Mighty Loopin' Power Rangers
by Mr. Chaos
Summary: Welcome to Looping, Jason Scott. Not quite sure how you became the Anchor instead of Tommy but here we are! Enjoy reliving your life... and variants of it. And other characters butting into your reality to take part. And you going to other worlds yourself. It's going to be an interesting ride! Innortal / Saphroneth / GarnettFox inspired Time Loop fic for Power Rangers
1. Chapter 1

**Loop 1**

If the memories hadn't been so clear Jason might have believed everyone when they said he was crazy. But it was this clarity, this sharpness in his thoughts and of the events that he had lived once already that convinced him that no, he hadn't gone mad.

'Granted,' he thought to himself with a mental eyeroll, 'the straight jacket I'm wearing isn't helping things much.'

It had been nearly a year since his parents had placed him in Happy Meadow's Home For Mentally Unhappy Folks... aka The Nuthouse. They'd thought they were helping him, that the doctors would be able to find the right dose of medicine and therapy that would help cure him and return him to the son that they knew and not the ranting madman who had rushed about his suburban neighborhood yelling about space witches at 5 in the morning. Breaking into Kimberly's house at 7 in the morning dressed just in his boxer shorts demanding she show him her pink power coin hadn't helped matters either; honestly he was lucky she heard the 'coin' part of that statement as otherwise her dad probably would have shot him. Nor had him swinging a broom at some cops, demanding they reveal their true monstrous forms just before they'd tazed him.

No matter what he'd said it hadn't helped. The only facts he could call upon involved monsters and giant robot battles... when one therapist had asked him to prove he had traveled back in time by telling him who won the Super Bowl that year Jason had only been able to comment that he knew a cheerleader-based monster had attacked around that time and her pom poms really hurt.

That had led to two weeks of the shrinks thinking he was denying his 'latent homosexual urges'.

He'd at first assumed that this was a spell that Rita or some other space overlord had created, trapping him in an alternate world or a dream. He'd bided his time, being patient, waiting for his friends to save him or for an opening to fight back to present itself. For Gthe villain to appear to taunt him or flickers of the real world to appear; things that would allow him to escape the madness (and he knew how ironic that sounded what with him in a padded room) and return to the real world.

He'd even tried to remember what exactly had happened to send him to this alternate reality. The last thing he remembered was some evil monster taunting Angel Grove, using it as the base for their invasion of Earth. He couldn't remember if it was Astronema or the Armada or some other group… after everything that had happened with Divatox his memories got jumbled and fuzzy. At times he swore he was in his forties, other times that he'd imagined that and he was only in his twenty. There was even a brief memory of him being an old man and his grandkids telling him he was too old to fight, to let SPD handle things.

He did know that he had gone to the ruins of the Command Center, seeking out something that would let him help. That was clear. He had just found his old Power Coin, drained of power when Zordon had created the duplicate for Rocky but hopefully still useful, when the entire building had shook and something heavy had struck him. The next thing he remembered was waking up in his old bedroom. He'd assumed that it was some sort of monster the alien overlord had brought with him or her, maybe an evil Sleepy Sheep or a Sandman-Based creature, and it had put him under a spell. He'd, sadly, been through enough of that to grow used to such things.

But then the news had begun reporting about the Power Rangers... and how they were defeating all sorts of monsters.

'If this were a dream Rita or Astronama or someone else had created... why would they have the Rangers around and WINNING?' Jason thought to himself. 'It would be better to torture me, to let me see the team losing, being defeated time and time again while I was trapped here. They could gloat and mock me...' Jason paused, shoulders slumping, "And I am thinking way too much like an evil supervillain."

But the Power Rangers. That had been another blow. He'd kept quiet at first because, just in case he wasn't in a dream world, he'd worried about revealing his identity. Zordon's rules were too ingrained in his mind. But when the Power Rangers had appeared... and were led by another Red Ranger... Jason had decided the time for subtly had passed. When Kim had come to visit (and at the very least his friends came to visit him once a week, which was nice if a bit annoying that they looked at him like a crazy person and talked slowly like he was 3 years old) he'd begun to drop hints about her being the Pink Rangers. She'd stared at him blankly. So he'd dropped bigger hints.

More dead-eyed staring.

So he'd just come out and declared that he was the Red Ranger and he knew all about Rita and Zordon... and then realized, as Kim signaled for the orderly to sedate him that Rita actually hadn't appeared that much on Earth and no one knew about Zordon save those selected to be Rangers. Angel Grove and its ordinary citizens, which now apparently included his friends who had certainly NOT been selected by Zordon in this reality... just knew monsters began appearing but didn't know why. They probably thought GOLDAR of all people was the leader of the monsters.

Thus Jason was back to being the crazy guy ranting about moon witches.

"Well Rita, if you did do this you did a wonderful job of setting me up," Jason muttered to himself as he shifted a bit, trying to get more comfortable even in the straight jacket. He'd been thrown into the cell for a 'mental time out' as the doctors called it because he'd gotten a bit too uppity, in the words of his current shrink, when another patient had tried to take his pudding cup. So what if Jason had thrown him over his shoulder and done a chest strike that broke three ribs? That was his pudding!

"...well, if I wasn't crazy beforehand," Jason muttered, realizing just how crazy he'd come off... again. "But I'm not crazy... I knew about the Rangers before they even appeared! I know how to fight with the Power Sword... I know battle tactics and how to pilot a zord! I know how to deal with putties and how to spot spells and now I'm talking to myself!" He hung his head. "Jason, you are losing your-"

Half of the wall was reduced to rubble as a massive golden foot crush it.

"-mind," he finished. The foot pulled away and Jason watched, jaw dropping, as he spotted the Megazord doing battle with Goldar, Scorpina, and a giant Green Ranger (who was doing that stupid evil laugh of his that Jason TOTALLY didn't try an imitate whenever Tommy got on his nerves and needed to be taken down a peg... totally). The sky had gone dark and Jason realized two things. One: this was the fateful battle when the trio would take down the Megazord, giving the Rangers their worst defeat.

Two... it really sucked to be in one of those buildings that always seemed to get in the way of a Zord Battle.

Tommy kicked the Megazord and Jason could only watch, shoulders slumped and a resigned look on his face, as several hundred tons of mystical metal came crashing down on him and Happy Meadow's Home For Mentally Unhappy Folks.

 **Loop 2**

"Stop it before it gets away!"

"Billy, block it!"

"It's endeavoring to make a hasty withdrawal towards the egress!"

"Ai ai ai!"

Jason wasn't having a good day.

When he'd woken to find himself back in his old bedroom he'd realized that somehow Rita's spell (and he always blamed Rita... for everything; traffic jams, magic spells, burnt toast, llamas) had restarted with his death. Or that dying had caused him to wake up. Or yet another one of those mystics that Zordon was friends with but seemed to always fail to mention had given him two information dumps (one where he treated being a ranger with dignity and respect and one where he was a raving loon) to teach him a lesson or... something. Honestly Jason didn't know. What he did comprehend was he couldn't go about ranting and raving about Rangers and Rita... he remembered spending two years in the Nuthouse and that was enough for him!

So he'd kept his head down, gone about his days as normal, and watched. When Zordon had teleported them into the Command Center he'd faked his best 'shocked and amazed' look he could. When the others bailed Jason had fought the urge to call them back and instead followed them, knowing they would return. When he'd accept the morpher and felt the power fill him once more he'd repressed the urge to sigh in relief.

He was back and it felt SO good.

Not to say that Jason didn't just accept things and go about repeating everything the same. Be it spell or memory dump Jason knew there had to be a reason for his knowledge and he wouldn't be a good leader, Ranger, or man if he didn't use it. So late at night, while everyone thought he was studying (and it was nice he just had to do refreshers on what each class was about... saved a ton of time, honestly) he'd work to remember every battle, every monster, and every strategy. If he could prevent a monster from causing someone pain he'd do it. If he could stop one of Rita's schemes before it fully blossomed he'd do so. He had around 3 total years experience being a ranger, first Red and then Gold, and he was going to use every advantage he could.

An attack on a shopping mall? He got his friends there before the creature showed up so they were ready to morph.

A monster destroying the civic center and costing Angel Grove millions? Jason commanded the Megazord to take the hit, knowing it could take it.

Rita sent the Putties to ruin Kim's float because... reasons? Jason had stopped them though he still didn't get that one. Most likely the demented loon had been having an off day and decided to stage at attack because she was bored.

When Tommy had been captured and bespelled to be Rita's evil minion (and Jason had debated that one for several weeks, finally deciding that as much as it had hurt Tommy's psyche they needed him to be a Ranger if only because if he wasn't at least 3 other teams would be leaderless) he'd easily taken him out with his now greater skills and taunted Tommy with his sword, calling him weak, knowing that it would cause Rita to create the Sword of Darkness sooner... which would also leech the evil from the Green Power Coin and thus become the only thing that needed to be destroyed to free Tommy.

'Rita was really into self-sabotage,' Jason thought to himself as he ducked behind a control panel just before some blaster fire flew past right where his head had been. 'Zedd too, with those Destroy-A-Putty buttons. It's like they wanted to be-AAACK!' Jason rolled away just before the Power Axe struck him, leaping to his feet and running out of the room. 'Focus, Jason, focus!'

It had been freeing Tommy though that had led Jason into this mess. Apparently Tommy had found his saving to be far too simple and He-Of-Too-Many-Ranger-Colors had begun watching Jason and noticing that while the rest of the team had problems with monsters Jason never really had an issue (because he'd fought them all). That had led his best bud to naturally assume the rational answer was that his capture had been a massive long-con by Rita and Jason was in fact a monster duplicate who had replaced the real Jason while everyone was focused on Tommy.

...why a monster duplicate would free Tommy and ensure the Rangers got another team member and the Dragonzord, Jason didn't know.

'Tommy probably has a reason for that... too bad he's too busy trying to destroy me!' Jason thought as he tried to find a way out of the Command Center, the footfalls of his friends as they chased him echoing behind him. He took a quick left, waiting for his friends to pass, then darted back down the way they had come, doing his best to be utterly quiet. He should have known something was odd when Billy had asked him to come to the Command Center but he hadn't expected all his friends, Zordon, and Alpha to try and place him in the same forcefield they'd used against Tommy ('or would have used... this is hurting my brain!') and demanded he release the real Jason at once. No matter how much he'd argued and pleaded with them his friends had just kept firing back that he had to be a fake because he was too good at being a Ranger.

Admittedly getting frustrated and snapping that he should have just let some innocent people die then hadn't been the smartest of responses.

Nor had him revealing that he knew the vocal commands to shut down the force field. Well, he'd thought that it would prove that it was really him only to realize a few seconds too late that he'd only learned those commands in the NEW Command Center when he'd been the Gold Ranger. His friends had watched him easily take down their trap and in response morphed and come at him Power Weapons raised and Blade Blasters firing.

He needed to get out of the Command Center, ditch his communicator, maybe figure out a way to keep Zordon from teleporting him in, and then wait for things to cool down. Maybe show up pretending to be the actual Jason? With Tommy in full paranoia mode and having convinced everyone he was some Putty Clone there was little chance of his friends cooling down. No, he'd have to fake it, figure out a way to make them thing that Tommy was right...

...Jason stopped short as he turned a corner and realized he'd ended up right back in the Command Center.

"Crap," he muttered, staring up at the giant blue face of his mentor. "Listen... I know this looks bad..."

"I do not know how you managed to take Jason's Power Coin but I will not allow this to stand!" Zordon said firmly. "I will stop you myself, if I have to!"

His frustrations getting the better of him Jason snapped, "By what... talking me to death? Hopping the tube rocks back and forth enough for you to smoosh me?" Zordon glowered at that and Jason took off his helmet. "Zordon... I'm not a fake! Come on, we've seen Putty Clones before and they aren't this good!"

"You're just an advanced model then!" Kim declared as she and the rest of the Rangers burst into the Command Center, the Pink Ranger taking aim with her bow.

"Look, let's just take a breath. Here..." Jason removed his blaster and set his sword down. "Removing my weapons."

"Wanting us to remove our weapons so you can use your evil magic on us?" Tommy demanded. "Not likely."

"No, you can keep your weapons if that makes you happy! Just don't shoot me or stab me or blow annoying flute music at me!"

"You think that will make us trust you?" Trini demanded even as Tommy muttered, 'Annoying?' and Kim quickly looked away.

"Clearly not but it would be nice if we took a moment to talk about this."

"Trying to lull us into a false sense of security?" Zack said. "Just what a Fake would say!"

Jason scoffed, gesturing at his friend. "Come on... if anything you saying that makes YOU sound like the Fake!"

"What?"

"Wait..." Tommy said, holding up a hand. "It brings up a good point-"

"Him, Jason... either works," the Red Ranger grumbled.

"-how do we know YOU aren't a Fake!"

"I'm not a Fake!" Zack shouted, turning from the other Rangers who were now staring at him. "Come on, you know me!"

"That's what I said!" Jason complained.

"You leave me out of this, Fake!"

Billy tilted his head. "It is conceivable thata Fake would plant another Fake as Jason so he could have a Triple Bluff. It would be very sinister."

"Or none of us are fakes..." Jason argued.

Zordon rumbled. "We must be careful... Trini, watch Zack. The rest of you deal with the Imposter Red Ranger."

"Come on! At least call Zack an it too! That's only-EEERRK!" Jason looked down, staring dumbly as the tip of the Power Sword that was sticking out of his chest.

"Aiaiai!" Alpha declared, yanking the weapon from Jason's back.

"Oh come on!" Jason gasped in exasperation before falling to his knees.

"He's... he's not exploding," Tommy whispered with dawning horror, Jason staring at him with a look that he hoped conveyed just how annoyed he was at the moment. "Monsters... monsters explode..." Tommy took a step forward, reaching out even as Jason stared at the white diamond on his chest that was rapidly turning just as red as the rest of his outfit. He let out a little chuckle that it took him dying to get them to believe him.

"Jason?" Kimberly whispered. "Jason?!"

"I... told you!" Jason cried out as his friends hurried over, gathering him up and holding him as he bled out. He could hear Billy trying to figure out a way to stop the bleeding and Trini crying and Zack wondering how this could have happened and Zordon whispering, "no... no..." over and over. His friends stared at his ashen face, their eyes growing red and tears falling onto him as they silently begged him to say something... anything. His vision was getting funny and it sounded like he was in a tunnel and they were driving further and further aay but he had to speak. They needed him to speak. To say something. Some parting words of wisdom. A command that would save him. Forgiveness for their grave error.

Jason looked at them all, brow furrowing.

"Alpha killed me?!" Jason gasped out. "Son of a-"

And everything went black.

 **Loop 3**

As he came to Jason rapidly reached several conclusions.

1) Dying sucked. A lot.

2) He wasn't in his bedroom.

3) Where ever he was it was moving

4) He was MUCH younger than he had been the last time he'd woken up confused and befuddled.

Taking stock of his surroundings Jason realized that he was a little older than 10, maybe 11 or 12. Same slightly pudgy frame he'd had at that age that would turn to solid muscle when he really got into karate and decided to dedicate his life to it. Same squeaky voice. Same lack of height (Kim had playfully made fun of him for years that he was the shortest in their group, the jokes only ending when he'd turned 14 and hit his growth spurt). Definitely not a teenager as he had been the last two times he'd waken up.

But his body was the only thing that was familiar to him. He was wearing a dress shirt with a dark tie and slacks, a long robe thrown over the top of this as well. There was a trunk under the seat he was sitting on and looking out the window Jason realized he was on a train... an old-fashion train from the looks of the décor... that was steaming through a countryside that was decidedly NOT Angel Grove. Thinking back to his time at the Peace Conference Jason wagered he was somewhere in Europe... maybe England, but it could have been Germany. He was all alone in the compartment with only an odd book entitled HOGWARTS: A HISTORY and a weird carved stick that made his hand tingle when he touched it.

"Okay Jason... if this is still a Rita spell then she is really going deep."

He felt a weird tingle along the back of his head but just as quickly it was gone.

After looking about the cabin some more Jason had begun debating either stepping outside or going through his trunk when the door opened and a boy his age (or the age his body was at the very least) stepped inside, looking him over critically. The kid had messy dark hair that looked like it had never seen a comb that did little to hide the odd scar upon his forehead. He was wearing a similar outfit as Jason but was much thinner, to the point of looking underweight. He also had on a pair of glasses that did little to hide his shockingly bright green eyes.

"Ah, was wondering what this Loop would bring. Never seen you before." The kid, who sounded British from his accent, dragged in a trunk of his own as well as a cage that contained a snowy white owl and set himself up on the padded bench chair across from Jason's. "You look a bit familiar... have we met?"

"UH... I don't think so?" Jason said, startled by how familiar the boy was with him, talking to him so openly.

"Hmmm, must have not been awake when I visited your world. So, what Loop is this for you? Or are you at the point where you don't keep count anymore?"

"Loop? Awake?"

The kid stared at him before nodding to himself. "Ah, first Fused Loop, huh? Been a while since I've gotten one of you guys. For some reason Naruto seems to get all the newbies nowadays... used to be me but something must have happened with Yggdrasil to redirect all the baby loopers to him."

"...okay, what are you talking about?" Jason said, getting frustrated. Of course his anger didn't come off as intimidating when he had the voice of an 11 year old.

The kid held up his hand. "It's okay. This is a lot to take in. You've been Looping by yourself for a while and I bet you have all sorts of wild theories. Honestly, I wish the Admins would just step in and give every new Anchor and Looper the low down. But I can answer all your questions, starting with: NO! You are NOT crazy!"

Jason ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek. "That might mean more if I didn't think you were crazy."

"I really want to make a joke about all of us being crazy but you are new and that would be mean. Let's start at the beginning: My name is Harry Potter."

Jason looked at the offered hand, considering his options before deciding it couldn't hurt to be honest and at least give his name. "Jason Scott," he said, taking Harry's hand.

"Huh, cool not to have someone star struck," the kid said before his eyes went wide. "Wait… Jason Scott. The Red Mighty Morphin Power Ranger?" Jason's jaw dropped and he moved to jerk away from Harry but the brit held onto his hand. "Calm down! I know all about Zordon! 250 or so odd Loops ago I was a Ranger myself!" Jason stared at the boy, his head shaking slightly, and Harry let out a sigh. "Well, at least you aren't trying to hit me. That really gets annoying with you new Loopers." He let out a long suffering sigh. "Zordon's Three Rules: Never use your power for personal gain. Never escalate a battle unless Rita forces you. Always keep your identity a secret as no one may know that you are a power ranger." Jason felt much of the tension in his body disappear with those words and the kid smirked at him and finally released his hand. "Now do you believe me?"

"How… I don't…"

"Alright, listen, sorry if this is all coming at you at once and I know it is super confusing but I'm going to do all I can to explain it. First thing though…" Harry held up his hand and there was a slight shimmer in the air. "Normally I give this lesson earlier but you are used to the more fantastical elements of life. So this-" he gestured at the rapidly growing shimmering crack that was floating in the space between them, "-is a subspace pocket. Experienced Loopers and Anchors have them so they can store whatever they want to take with them doesn't get erased when time is reset. Now then…" Harry reached inside the crack like it was a backpack and after a moment pulled out some asprin and a bottle of water, along with an odd device that looked like a calculator. "Take this. You felt that tingle before, right?" Jason nodded and, deciding if the strange kid was going to kill him he'd probably just wake up again back where he started. "That was a Ping. We use it to alert Loopers we are around. I'll teach you." He wiggled the device. "This lets me scan you and tell where you are from, where your anchor currently is and I am so having a talk with him because he should…huh." Harry stared up at Jason who was still struggling to follow everything. "You are the anchor for your universe. But that isn't right. Tommy Oliver … he's the Anchor for the Power Rangers reality." Harry stared at the device before shrugging. "You must be from a slightly different reality. Maybe the comic books or something. Doesn't matter. Now then," Harry said once he'd put the device away, "Let's focus. You've been experiencing some odd things recently, haven't you? A feeling that you are reliving your life?"

Jason nodded. While it still felt strange to talk to Harry about being a Ranger the fact that he clearly knew Zordon's rules meant he could be trusted. "First everything was normal, or as normal as it can be when I am dealing with evil space women that want to destroy the planet-"

"Ever notice it is almost always evil space WOMEN?" Harry asked. "Rita, Divatox, Astronema, Bansheera-"

"Who?"

"You aren't missing much with that one. Anyway…"

Jason went into detail about the three lives he'd lived, Harry at times muttering in agreement or wincing in pain, mumbling about knowing how 'that felt'. The one comfort though was that he never once looked at Jason like he was insane. No, it was clear from the way he was encouraging Jason to speak that he knew all too well what Jason had gone through… and most likely had gone through it himself.

"And that's when I got the sword in my stomach," Jason finished. "Woke up here."

"Who stabbed you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"…Alpha?"

"Little rat fink," Jason muttered.

Harry nodded in sympathy before taking a stick out that was similar to Jason's and giving a few flicks of it, swirling blue light coating the walls of their cabin before fading away. If it hadn't been for his years as a Ranger and the repeating of his lives he would have been startled by that but now just found in slightly odd. "Privacy spell. Sorry, should have done that earlier. Okay. So there is something called Yggdrasil, named after the World Tree of Norse Legend in most realities. Yggdrasil is a Super Computer and upon each 'branch' is a reality. A world. And strangely enough what is fiction in one reality is actually real on another branch" Harry splayed out his fingers. "On my thumb is Middle Earth. My index finger has Star Wars. My middle finger Godzilla and my ring finger Marvel comics. My pinkie is My Little Pony. Every book, every show, every movie, every fictional world ever created… exists on the World Tree's branches."

Jason rubbed his chin. "Sounds a bit odd but I understand that better than if Billy were explaining it. So in my reality I can watch that Batman cartoon show…"

"…and in Bruce Wayne's reality The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers airs every morning before 8am," Harry finished. "There are Conduits, people in each reality who are highly tuned to another reality and believe they are creating the stories when they are just… hearing and seeing in their mind actual events. George Lucus, Tolkien, so on. In realities that make into the 2000s a woman named Rowling creates books based on my life."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain what is happening to me."

"Getting to that, sorry about that. Now, no one is quite sure when it began happening… I've been looping for probably a billion years now, but Yggdrasil encountered an error. We weren't for sure why but recently I've come to believe Kratos and his kid, Atreus, are the reason for this mess. They were fooling around with Yggdrasil apparently at some point. But that might be something totally unrelated. Not important. Yggdrasil, encountering this fatal error, put every reality in 'Safe-Mode', causing them to continually repeat over and over until it could fix itself and get back to normal."

"And how long is that supposed to take?"

"Estimation time is currently at Infinity +1."

"Great," Jason said drolly.

"Oh, it gets better," Harry said with a smirk. "So reality just keeps going on repeat, over and over. But as time goes by someone in that reality, the 'Anchor', becomes aware of the repeats. We call them 'Awake'. Once an Anchor is awake the reality begins to alter. Different events, different outcomes…"

"And that's how I end up in the Nuthouse and then stabbed by Alpha."

"Correct!" Harry said with a laugh. "The moment you die or reach a point in the timeline where all the major drama of your life is settled you go to bed and time rewinds back. Sometimes to the original starting point, sometimes later, sometimes sooner."

"You mentioned Loopers," Jason brought up, glancing out the window as the English countryside flew past.

Harry nodded. "Those who hold a special bond with an Anchor can eventually become Awake themselves. You can't force it though… trust me, I tried. Been in the asylum myself though here we call it Azkaban. You just have to wait for them to become Awake."

"So wait… you mean my friends… my team… eventually they'll be like me?" Jason grinned. "Kim? Trini? Billy? Zack? That green traitor that got me killed? They'll see things like I do?"

The kid shifted a bit and grimaced. "There… is a problem."

"Because of course there is," Jason said dryly.

"See, just because they are Awake doesn't mean they are Awake in EVERY Loop. That is the difference between Loopers and Anchors. A Loops only remembers the Loops they are Awake for… an Anchor is forever Awake. Might not wake up before a looper but they will always wake up at some point for each Loop."

Jason rolled his head back and groaned. "So there might be times when all of us are Awake and other times when it is just me or me and Billy."

"Right," Harry said. "We're not sure WHY it is… it just is. You are the Anchor for your version of Power Rangers so you will go through every Loop."

"You mean… just live my life, over and over again? No rest? Just… forever the battle? I'm going to go mad for real."

"I did that a few times," Harry said with a shrug. "The going mad thing. Then, as one guy from the Ben 10 reality told me, I got bored and decided to become sane. Very sane."

"How can you be so flippant about this?" Jason demanded.

Harry though wasn't fazed by his annoyance. "Were you freaked out the first time you called your Zord? Morphed? You got used to it… and you will get used to this. I'm just… further down the road than you."

They sat in silence for a while after that.

"Wait," Jason said, pulling at the robes he was wearing, "if reality just keeps repeating, over and over… why am I on a train in Britain instead at the Juice Bar in Angel Grove?"

Harry turned to his owl, who gave him a look that screamed, "You idiot" and the kid smacked his head. "Right, sorry, forgot about that. Honestly I think I should take up Spike's idea of making pamphlets to hand out whenever I meet a new Looper." Harry paused. "The dragon, not the vampire."

"I am disturbed by both of those options and I fight a golden monkey man on a daily basis."

"Right. So there are two main types of loops. First is Baseline and that is your standard "Everything is basically the same" loop. You wake up, become a ranger, so on. Then there are variants… you are a woman, you are black, your mentor is evil and your foe is now the heroic guide. That kind of rubbish. Then we have this: Fused Loops.

"A Fused Loop has three subsections, according to Hermione. The first sub we call Understudy. Basically you and/or several Loopers replace people in a reality and play their role. Using Star Wars, you'll Awake to find yourself as Luke Skywalker, or at least playing his part. Luke isn't around… most likely he is in his own Fused Loop or popped over to another reality for a while, and you have to fill in. The second is a Merger and those can be intense. I did one where Hogwarts was all about raising Pokémon and Voldemort was a Spiritomb. That was an odd one. Finally we have what you are in: A Guest Star Loop. It's pretty much what it says on the tin… you are inserted into another reality as yourself but with tweaks to your personal history."

Jason scratched his head. "So what… I know have to live a life doing… whatever this is?"

"Pretty much. Roughly 7 years but recently its been going longer and involves Voldemort and Bella's love child. Honestly I don't mind skipping that stuff as being a bad dad isn't in my bag, nor is watching my second born not get it through his head that it's okay to be gay… even if it is with Draco's son. Ugh. But you and I will go through this loop and eventually we'll go to sleep and you'll pop back to your reality for a new loop and I'll continue on to a different one. On the plus side you're going to get to learn magic."

"I am?"

"Oh yeah, forgot your reality is before my books came out. I'm used to people getting excited to go to Hogwarts. So in a lot of the realities there is one or two major things that can be considered their "Great Power" or whatever you want to call it. Some are more interesting than others or better to learn and that makes them attractive to Anchors and Loopers. I mean… musicals are fun but knowing how to dance in tandem isn't that interesting. Knowing how to fly and throw Ki blasts? Better. Your reality, or the variant most of us have been to where Tommy is the Anchor? That is actually one of the big ones. Usually in the Top 10. Mine is one of the Top 3, along with the Hidden Ninja School and learning how to be a Jedi." Jason's jaw dropped and Harry, with a smirk, reached back into his subspace pocket and pulled out an actual friggin' lightsaber, activating it. "Yeah, the Force is awesome. And you get to retain your connection to it… same with a lot of the other mystical and spiritual powers." Harry returned the lightsaber with a flick of his hand and smiled politely at Jason. "For more hardware stuff I recommend subspace and getting spares. I have like 20 lightsabers and doubles of nearly every power coin except Pink."

The casual, flippant way Harry talked about the Force and the morphers left Jason's head spinning. He knew that there would people that would have grown complacent with power if they had a morpher as long as Jason had, but perhaps that was why he was a ranger and they weren't. For Jason he'd never grown used to be a Power Ranger and while he was confident with the strength and power Zordon had given him he still respected it and felt awe in what he could do. Seeing someone else wield power with such casual ease made him think of Rita and Zedd or King Mondo… yet he also sensed no ill-will within Harry. Merely a jadedness that came from, if Jason was reading Harry's thinly veiled hints correctly, a long series of lifetimes that stretched into the billions of years. Possibly trillions.

That… was worrisome.

"And your world offers magic?"

"That is correct. It would be egotistical to claim it is the best magic but it is certainly one of the favored ones. More than Middle Earth or Narnia or the Realm of Fairies. Wand magic at first but with enough practice you can just do it with a gesture." Harry took up his wand and said "Lumos", causing a glow of pure light to appear at the tip. He then held up his hand and, without saying anything, made a much larger orb of light appear between his palm and fingers. "Knowing Rita and Zedd like I do from the last few times I looped through your reality it is nice to have some magic power of your own."

Jason bobbed his head back and forth. "Would be nice to stop some of their spells before they caused too much trouble. Bad luck spells, punk spells, Rocky told me about being addicted to a Japanese gaming machine… get those taken care of."

Harry snorted. "Bad enough when you have to think of an excuse to fight a monster but dealing with them screwing with dates and barbeques? That is bloody annoying."

The two of them lapsed into silence again, a much more comfortable one, as Jason began to process what Harry had told him. There was no doubt in his mind that Harry was telling the truth… it just made too much sense. And that was before he'd seen just how powerful Harry was. No, he was this Anchor and it meant he was going to be living his life over and over again, possibly forever, until Yggdrasil finally got fixed…

Jason blinked before looking at Harry. "Okay, so we just keep looping… how do Anchors and Loopers keep themselves from going mad?"

"Some of them don't, which is why we do our best to keep an eye out for anyone showing Sakura Syndrome." 

"Sakura Syndrome?"

Harry let out a weary size, for once an emotion other than flippant amusement and curiosity flashing across his features. Jason instantly felt an intense sadness coming from Harry, one that made the boy suddenly seem all his many years. "Named for one of the first non-anchor Loopers from the Hidden Leaf Village. When she was Awaken she… didn't take the Looping well. Unlike the rest of us she came to the conclusion that life was meaningless so there was no need for morality. Where people like Darth Vader realize being good feels good Sakura decided that being evil or good didn't matter. She basically just does what she wants, without a care, feeling that existence is pointless. At first it was just sleeping around or acting up but eventually she was worst than most supervillains. She's… finally getting better… but it's going to take a long time to get her fixed." Harry sighed again. "We learn from our mistakes and won't let another Sakura happen again, if we can help it."

Jason nodded at that, feeling sympathy for the poor girl. He could easily see how one, if not probably prepared and lacking the mental and spiritual strength to stay true to their values, would fall to darkness. It was the same thing all Rangers feared, especially after seeing just how bad a Dark Ranger could be. It was why Zordon had his rules, to stave off any who would take such a mindset with the morphers and the Power Coins and the Zords.

The Red Ranger finally looked at Harry and asked, "So what do you do to keep yourself grounded?"

The young man shrugged. "Depends on the Looper. Some use the time to become an expert in something… developing new skills or hobbies. I know Bull Shannon learned how to play the piano during one of his loops. Others use it as a chance for redemption, to make up for their past sins and mistakes. Some want to connect with old friends or, if they died early in their original timeline, to meet children or grandchildren they never got to spend time with." Harry allowed a smile to blossom onto his lips. "Some just begin having fun. Not as bad as Sakura Syndrome but hey… sometimes it is fun to just cut loose. A few times I was a Dark Lord… no murder and torture but I did make my minions bow. But I have a feeling you're going to be more like Son Goku."

"And what does he do?"

"Become better. Stronger. Ready for the next fight, the next foe. Take out the ones that made him struggle in the baseline and be ready for the fused loop where there truly are nightmares."

Jason picked up the stick that had been sitting beside him, which he knew was a wand now, and considered it before nodding. "Yeah… that might be a worthy goal. I've always pushed myself to be better… to learn more when it comes to karate, to being a good man, and lately being a good ranger and leader. This is a chance to push my development in new and interesting ways… so that I am ready for the next threat."

"There you go!" Harry said, clapping his hands before casting another wandless spell that caused, of all things, a mystical digital clock to appear. "We have about 2 hours before the candy trolley arrives so let's go over Admins and recalling memories, then we'll move on to the basics of magic…"

"Wait!" Jason said, his eyes going wide. "If I am here… what about my friends? Angel Grove?"

Harry shrugged. "Usually when you end up in a Fused Loop that isn't a Merger someone else takes your place."

~In another Loop Concurrently Occurring~

"Alan," Zordon intoned, "you will embody the power of the mighty Tyranasaurus Rex!"

The teenage Alan Grant rolled his eyes. "Wonderful… Roxy will never let me live this down."

~M~M~L~R~

Author's Notes: So this story is inspired by the Infinite Loops subsection of fanfics you can find online that was started by _Innortal._ _As stated by Harry in this chapter, the basic premise for all stories in this subgenre is that every show, every book, every reality is part of Yggdrasil, the super computer that controls all. That computer hit a glitch and put everything into safe mode, causing reality to forever keep repeating. The first person to wake up in a reality is the Anchor; there must be an anchor in every loop. As they loop other people will Awaken; these are just Loopers and they can sometimes be awake and sometimes not._

 _A lot about the classifying of fused loops and such is my own invention._

 _Let me also state here… no, I am not part of Spacebattles nor have I met or interacted with any of the writers of those other fics. I just saw that these things existed and thought it would be fun to do my own thing. I honor what they do and give credit to those writers but I want to play around on my own. I have no problem if this is considered canon or not. For anyone going "You should only do this if you are part of their team!" my answer is "Hi! Welcome to Fanfiction writing where we all steal characters from other things to tell our own stories. You must be new!"_

 _Now, normally this type of story is written by a ton of people and one person edits it to put it up on this site. But not this story. If you haven't guessed from my Downton fanfics… I get a ton of story ideas and I like to experiment, so I am doing this all on my own. If you are a fan of Looping stories this will cause a few changes:_

 _We will rarely, if ever, skip loops. That means that while most fics will see character start looping then jump to them having a ton of experience, we will see Jason in every loop. This will make him special as he is going to develop quicker than most baby loopers do, as most characters get thousands of loops before you really get into the meat of their stories. With this story you will see every loop Jason is in. Sometimes a small bit, sometimes a TON_

 _Because of this the story won't jump around. We won't see us going back to a loop or suddenly we have a looper awaken and then later see HOW they woke up. This will be told in linear fashion._

 _Because only I am writing this there will be a more, oddly enough, straight forward narrative. By that I mean it won't feel like ideas suddenly pop up and disappear. I will be keeping track of how Jason is progressing, new skills and items, and we will see him develop._

 _This also means that it will take a while before others begin looping with Jason from the Power Rangers reality. We will see some fused loops but I am right now around Loop 20 and haven't gotten yet to the first new character to Awaken._

 _According to TVtropes Tommy is the Anchor of the Power Rangers Universe. Now, no one has gathered up the Power Rangers stuff for this site but to honor what came before I am stating that the Power Rangers Universe of Spacebattles and the one I am writing here are different universes. For sake of ease let's say that my Jason is from the old Power Rangers comics. Tommy is anchor of TV land, I am doing Comic Land. They are literally the exact same thing but now we can have a clear division for the worry warts. It is not the modern comic because 1) I want Jason to not know a ton of pop culture and 2) I have plans for that. In fact, the lack of pop culture is why I made Jason's memory fuzzy after the Astronama attack, so that he wouldn't know about Harry Potter._

 _I will be doing this whenever the heck I like, and focus on what I want to. Sometimes I will do a chapter that is one giant fused loop. Othertimes I will do random crap. This is purely something to stretch my writing muscles before I write my other stories. And if you are a fan of those stories don't complain that I am doing this instead… I do this to MOTIVATE me to write other stuff. It's like stretching. This is just a rare time I am actually posting my random story stuff._

 _Now then, the loops. The first and second are obvious and the third is a fused loop where Jason is a new Hogwarts student. Next time we will be spending a load of time in the HP universe seeing how Jason does._

 _Finally, some references in case you missed them. Jason being short is a reference to Of Love and Bunnies, where it stated he was the shortest of the group until he got his growth spurt. This is why he started doing karate in the first place and why Bulk and Skull called him a dweeb. Apparently one of my stories was a fused loop for Harry. And poor Alan Grant from the Jurassic Park loops!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Loop 3 (continued)**

"Hmmm… hmmm… now this is very interesting," the Sorting Hat said from its perch on Jason's head. The Red Ranger was sitting in the middle of Hogwart's Great Hall, wishing he didn't look like such a big idiot, while a battered mystical object sat on his head reading his thoughts. While he had seen the other students go through this and Harry had given him plenty of warning about how one was selected for a Hogwart's House he still found it embarrassing to have to do it in front of everyone.

Harry had been pleasantly surprised when Prof. McGonagall had announced that this year they would go in reverse alphabetical order, meaning that Jason would get sorted before Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived (Jason thought that name was a mouthful and Harry hated it with a passion) had grinned at the news and whispered that he'd make sure now that he got into whatever house Jason ended up in, so that he could quietly teach him the spells and stuff that Hogwarts never got around to educating their students about. Apparently Harry had looped through every house in Hogwarts several hundred times so it didn't matter to him and he could focus on teaching Jason magic. That some of those spells came from other realities didn't bother Harry in the slightest.

"Let's see… you have a brain in that head of yours but you do not thirst for knowledge in all things like a Ravenclaw. You would do well to guide them to look past their books but there would be little they could offer you. You also have ambition but it is tempered with a humility that would serve the snakes well. You could be the leader that would eventually move them out of the darkness and into the light. But once again… what would they offer you? Loyalty… oh, there is loyalty in you, Jason Scott, but it is to people who will never come to Hogwarts. You would make friends here but they would never match the ones I see you hiding from me. Zack. Billy. Trini. Kimberly. Tommy. No, Hufflepuff will offer you very little. So it is clear. Only one filled with courage could walk through the Den of Snakes and force them to find their humanity once more… make those of the Raven's Nest leave their branches and explore the world… and drive the Hufflepuff Community to stand tall as leaders of the world. Yes, courage, which means the only choice is **GRYFFINDOR!"**

~M~L~P~R~

"This is a bad idea," Harry hissed at Jason as the two of them headed towards the dungeons. It was the night after their first potion class and Harry had managed to get detention with Snape by simply existing. Even though he now understood why Snape acted as he did and in some loops had managed to have a decent relationship with him in anything that resembled the baseline reality the greasy git annoyed the hell out of him with his arbitrary punishments and blatant favoritism. He tried different methods, from being quiet and unassuming to answering every question correctly and still Snape would hate his guts. It was only when things were radically altered that he and Snape had anything other than a purely antagonist relationship.

"No, trust me, this will work," Jason said.

"It really won't. Snape hates Gryffindors when he's stuck in his baseline attitude."

"Which is why I am handling this like a Ranger."

"Well, don't blame me when this goes horribly wrong… and if you make me have to do more work I am so going to make you pay."

Jason's brow furrowed at that. "Aren't you the most powerful mage in all of the realities? And know how to do the Jedi Mind Trick? Can't you just wave your hand and make Snape think you did anything he assigned you?" Harry opened his mouth, only to slowly close it and blinking as he realized just what Jason was saying. "You've done this how long and didn't think of using Force Powers?"

"Oh shut it you wanker," Harry snapped in mock irritation before opening the door to the Potions classroom and walking inside, finding Snape already waiting there behind his desk, studying a scroll.

"Potter. Begin cleaning the cauldron bottoms. If I hear a peep out of you before the hour is up you'll start all over again in the morn… ing…" Snape finally looked up and saw that Jason was standing there along with Harry and his scowl only deepened. "Potter, what is the meaning of this?"

"I don't know, Professor," Harry said with a slight shrug. "I was heading down here and Jason caught up with me just outside your door."

Snape stared at Harry for a moment and Jason realized that he was trying to read his new friend's mind. Harry had warned him that Snape and Dumbledore tended to do that and he'd quickly worked with Harry to learn how to shield his mind from such mental attacks. It was something Jason wanted to learn on his own, as he figured that when dealing with the likes of Rita and Zedd having his mind protected from spells would be VERY helpful.

"Potter, I thought I told you to get to work. Stop doddling. Scott, unless you wish to join Potter in detention then I suggest you leave."

"But I am here to help, professor," Jason said. Snape didn't show the shock on his face but Jason could tell that he wasn't expecting that answer.

"Help, Scott? And how do you think you could help? Your potion work barely was above Weasley and Longbottom's."

'It was also above Crabbe and Goyle's,' Jason thought, thinking of the two heavy set teens who looked like Bulk's british cousins. But knowing that such words wouldn't do him any good with his goal Jason instead stepped forward, keeping his hands clasped in front of him and looking Snape right in the eye. "And that's why I came, sir. It's clear that I have a lot to learn about brewing… but I've found myself hitting a wall when it comes to the texts you've assigned. I thought perhaps if I came down here and helped clean up, to learn about the aftermath of bad potion making, it would show me why I shouldn't do certain things and motivate me to not make the same mistakes Ron and Neville make."

"Do you expect me to waste my time helping you, Scott? I am a busy man and I do not have time to coddle dunderheads who are utterly hopeless."

Jason had been prepared for that answer and didn't let it phase him. He'd dealt with plenty of hardasses and jerks in his life who thought that they could push him around just because he was a good student who didn't get in trouble. 'Why people think that a blackbelt who spends most of his time working out is some wimp I'll never know.' "I understand sir. Treat me just like you would any student you had in detention."

"…if a foolish Gryffindor wishes to waste his own time then far be it for me to deny them. But I'll not have you near Potter! This isn't a game, Scott, nor is it a common room. Go through the supply closet and make sure every jar is scrubbed clean. Your classmate Thomas seems to have a habit of touching everything."

Harry just shot Jason a look, the Red Ranger merely raising an eyebrow before he set about his task.

~Two Weeks Later~ 

"Scott!" Snape snapped as Jason as he scrubbed down the bottom of the cauldron. "What is taking you so long?"

"Theo Nott left some frog's eye residue along the rim, Prof. Snape, and it's being rather stubborn."

Snape strolled over, looking down his beak-like nose at Jason before running his finger along the rim of the cauldron he was cleaning, scratching at the dried up residue and running it between his thumb and forefinger.

"Hmmm… Weasley, take over cleaning the frog's eye reside. Even you can't screw that up. Scott, go do an inventory on my stock. I have to teach the Hufflepuffs how to make the Memory Enhancing Potion tomorrow and they always use too much."

~Three Weeks After Christmas~

"Scott!" Snape thundered, storming towards Jason as he went over the lists and made some notes. "What is the meaning of this mess?"

"What mess, sir?"

"Why are a quarter of my pickled sliced newt tongues sitting strewn about the tables rather than being where they belong? Is this task too much for you to handle?"

Jason didn't even bat an eye at the insult. When an evil space dictator who looked like a skinned demon was your arch enemy a man with greasy hair was nothing. "We'll have to throw these out, sir. You were quite clear in class today that we needed to slice the tongues at an angle. These were sliced at straight lines."

"Foolish Gryffindor…" Snape growled but he did pick up one of the jars and inspected it. "Hmmm… Miss Brown's, if I am correct. She was much more concerned gossiping with Miss Patil than finishing her asissgnment. I see more points will need to be removed." He set the jar down and began to stride away. "Once you dispose of those join me at my cauldron, Scott, I need of another set of hands and of the four I have in this room at the moment you are the least likely to blow us all up."

~End of First Year~

"Adequate. Adequate, horrific… I've seen trolls pull things out of their ears I'd rather drink than this…" Snape paused in front of Jason's cauldron, nodding slightly. "Acceptable, Mr. Scott. Complete for the day. Clean up."

"Yes Prof. Snape. Should I come tonight to help with the bottling?"

"After supper." Snape jerked his head up and glared at the Slytherins and Gryffindors. "Well? Did I say stop stirring?"

"I hate you," Harry whispered, Jason rolling his eyes.

~October 31st, Second Year~ 

'Stupid stupid stupid!' Jason mentally screamed at himself as he dove into a tunnel just as the stone face of Salazar Slytherin opened its mouth and allowed the Basilisk to slither free. After Harry had used the Jedi Mind Trick to convince his relatives that Dudley was him and he was his cousin he'd promptly teleported or apparated to Jason's place so that he could spend the summer giving him the lowdown on what they'd be dealing with in their Second Year as well as some very helpful spells. Jason's mother hadn't minded Harry visiting often (not realizing that when Harry left he was going to a 5 Star Hotel where he binged on room service and watched Pay-Per-View) and his step father was glad Jason had a friend (and the fact that his father in his baseline was his stepfather here was… odd). Harry had laid out everything concerning the Basilisk and what they needed to do to stem off any problems it could cause. Harry had decided that, for the first few years, he'd nip things in the bud so Jason could actually study magic before they needed to deal with Voldemort, and that meant dealing with the Basilisk ASAP. Harry had explained all the ways they could drive one off or defeat it (including an Ipod loaded with rooster cries, several Eyes of Medusa to freeze it to stone itself, and a picture of some woman named Umbridge that reminded Jason of the Terror Toad) as well as defend themselves (crossbows, mirrored sunglasses, a Mini Nuke launcher from a 'Fallout Reality').

Harry had managed to get the diary away from Ginny before she became too entranced with it and the two Anchors had been ready to hunt down the Basilisk before it could attack first just before the Holiday break only for things to go utterly pear-shaped.

Apparently Harry hadn't realized that Gilderoy Lockhart liked to carry a diary with him and had somehow swapped Tom Riddle's Diary O' Evil with his own. Which was why, when Jason had seen the pompous and egotistical professor writing about the Enemies of the Heir on a wall using blood while Mrs. Norris laid petrified beside him the Red Ranger had chased after him, so startled he didn't think about using the cell phone Harry had given him to call his friend and warn him.

And the Chamber of Secrets had horrible cellular reception.

"Yes… flee! Flee!" The shade of Tom Riddle, who had decided that he was just as annoyed with Lockhart as Jason was and decided to begin draining him of his life force now just to shut him up, cackled. "Soon I will kill you to as a warning to Potter, the boy who killed my older self! It will break him to see his best friend strung up on the top of the Gryffindor Tower, bled dry to signal my return!"

Jason reached into his subspace pocket (thrilled he'd finally mastered how to make one) and grabbed the mirrored sunglasses Harry had given him along with this Loop's Invisibility Cloak; Harry apparently had so many of them he had begun making clothing out of them, including a bra and panty set that, sadly, didn't work as one would hope when they heard the words 'Invisible Panties'. Unfortunately there wasn't much else that would be much use against a giant rampaging magic snake, meaning that Jason was on his own.

"I will see all my foes burn and I will build a throne of your bones!"

Jason rolled his eyes. "You know, you don't have to monologue! It just makes you come off really pathetic!" He threw on the invisibility cloak and quickly darted to another tunnel just as Riddle yelled at the Basilisk to attack in the direction Jason's voice had come from. "At least make a pun like 'You are hissssstory'!"

"You will not mock me, you pathetic child!"

"Looks whose talking, Tom-Tom!" Jason called out before darting to some rubble and hiding behind that. Honestly though Jason didn't have a clue how he was going to get out of this one. He didn't know how good a giant snake could smell but he wouldn't wager on him being able to hide for long. Soon the serpent would realize where he was and while the mirrored sunglasses protected him from being turned to stone that didn't mean they would protect him from being eaten. 'Need to distract him long enough for Harry to realize I'm down here… but if he doesn't see that message it could be until tomorrow and I can't wait that long-'

A screech that sounded like an eagle's but with a much more musical tone filled the air and Jason peeked out from one of the tunnels to watch as Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, dropped the Sorting Hat onto the ground near Lockhart's fallen form before going at the Basilisk's eyes, ripping first one and then the other out before being forced to fly away before it was snatched up in the serpent's jaws.

'Okay, remember this from Harry's stories. Get the Sword of Gryffindor, stab the snake, destroy the diary, and hopefully not die. Shouldn't be-'

"That blasted bird may have blinded the Basilisk but I can still use his power!" Riddle cried out, grabbing his diary and holding it aloft. "I have heard that another piece of myself took control of a professor last year and nearly smited you… let us see what I can do with the power of the Basilisk to house my soul!"

"Aw crap," Jason muttered, shoulders slumping as he watched the shade of Tom Riddle shuddered before turning into a mist, the diary flying into the writhing form of the Basilisk. The giant snake let out a shriek before, much to Jason's annoyance, it suddenly shifted just like any animal or object struck by Lord Zedd's magic, transforming into a human-sized snake monster. It looked a bit like one of those lame Cobra villains, with a green-skinned Riddle wearing a helmet that looked like the Basilisk's head and black and dark green body armor, his arms ending in smaller snake-like hands. The helmet's eyes were scarred but there was a glowing orange energy that flickered behind the cracked in the sealed lids. Riddle hissed and opened his mouth, revealing a forked tongue and sharp fangs dripping with venom… the same that was dripping from his snake-head hands.

"Yesssssssss!" Riddle-Snake exclaimed. "I am whole onsssssssse more. None shall ssssssstop me!" He held up his hand and blasted a stream of venom at one of the empty tunnels, causing the rock and stone to bubble and melt.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Jason thought as he began to creep slowly along the floor. Riddle was still searching for him and Jason, deciding to test a theory, grabbed a stone and threw it across the large room. The moment the stone hit the ground Riddle whipped around, the eyes of his helmet opening and shooting off a very short beam of petrifying energy before sealing shut, the monster-man letting out a grunt of pain. 'Okay… he can petrify me again and now the glasses will do nothing. Only good thing is that it hurts him to do that. Need too-'

Jason's foot hit the Sorting Hat and he felt something hard and solid that certainly wasn't a sword hilt. Reaching down slowly while Riddle once more called on him to surrender Jason's finger tips touched something metallic and warm… and a flood of familiar power rushed through his arm.

During their first year Harry had let Jason look at his collection of morphers from his subspace pocket, even suggestion Jason could take one as, it seemed, Harry had a habit of ending up taking his place in a lot of loops and always kept the morpher… if not extras if he could figure out how to duplicate it thanks to certain monsters. There were ones from his era, the ninja morphers (that kept the dino head masks, oddly enough), all the Zeo Crystals and the Zeo Staff, Turbo Chargers, and other odds ones like Dino Chargers and Ninja Steel and even sunglasses that were morphers. But none of them had felt right in his hand. Even the Red Mighty Morphin' morphers (as Harry called them) never felt right. It felt like him handling Billy's morpher… the power was there but it wasn't HIS.

But this?

This was HIS.

"Hey Tom!" Jason called out, rolling just as Riddle fired another petrifying blast and two streams of acid, emptying himself of both attack options. Jason threw the invisibility cloak so that he was wearing it like a cape and grinned. "It's Morphin' Time! Tyrannosaurus!"

The familiar tingle of energy whipped through his body as the ranger suit formed around his body. And then, much to his surprise, he felt his body twist and grow. He remembered Tommy telling him that the Blue Turbo Ranger, Justin, grew to adult size when he morphed and the same was apparently true of anyone who became a ranger. Where once had stood 12 year old Hogwarts student Jason Scott stood the 20-something Red Ranger.

Jason drew his blaster and shot several quick blasts, striking Riddle's helmet eyes and blinding them once more before summoning the Power Sword.

"Back to action!" Jason cried out before he charged.

An hour later, when Harry finally rushed down into the Chamber of Secrets, he found Jason sitting on the floor, his helmet off and his body back to being 12 years old, checking his blaster over while surrounded by crispy bits of what Harry recognized as monster pieces.

"Power Sword can destroy Horocruxes. Good to know."

~Late In Jason's Third Year~

"It's… it's Sirius Black!" Ron Weasley whimpered, cradling his rat/Peter Petrigrew close to his chest. Jason didn't glance back at the Prisoner of Azkaban, keeping his eyes on Petrigrew in case he decided to rush away. In this loop Harry had never become close to Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley and thus the red head didn't know what was going on.

"Do not worry, boy," Sirius said coolly, "only one will die tonight."

"Yeah, Scabbers!" Harry exclaimed, whipping around and using wandless magic to grab Scabbers from Ron's grasp while Harry used the memory spell that Lockhart apparently favored in the baseline to knock Ron out and make him forget everything that had happened in the last few hours. Jason watched as the rat wiggled in Harry's grip before his friend cast another spell, this time with his wand, and turned Petrigrew back into a man before knocking him out cold and binding him with unbreakable chains. "But I'd suggest we keep him alive so he can get you off those murder charges."

Sirius let out a choking nose as he tried to gather himself. He was quickly joined by Remus, who entered moments later and sounded just as startled.

"Harry… what…"

It was Jason who spoke up. "My mom is a muggle, so is my stepfather. I didn't know much about magic. When I heard about you, Sirius, I decided to look you up and eventually learned that you were James Potter's best friend. Harry and I did some research, checked the Potter Family Vaults, and discovered Harry's mum's diary. It spoke of you being Harry's godfather and making an Unbreakable Oath to always protect him. That meant you couldn't have been the traitor… and with a bit more research we realized just who the traitor was." Jason finally turned to look at Sirius, staring at the poor man with tangled hair and filthy teeth and twitchy limbs. He hadn't liked leaving him in that prison when he'd learned about him but Harry had stated that it would raise too many questions to spring him and Harry could always just use some mind healing tricks he knew to help his godfather out.

Harry grinned and took a step forward. "We're going to get you cleared, Sirius. You're safe!" He opened his arms to hug Sirius…

…only for the man to push past him and move towards Jason, grasping him by the shoulders.

"Your mother's name. The muggle. What is it?"

"…what?" Jason said dumbly.

"What is your mother's name!" Sirius said frantically, shaking Jason hard.

"Sirius!" Remus called out.

"Her name, not mine!"

"Beverly," Jason got out.

"Beverly Lee…" Sirius whispered, shocking Jason that Harry's godfather knew his mother's maiden name. "You have her eyes… but not her hair. That is your father's hair. My hair." Sirius smiled, tears in his eyes. "I… I think I'm your father."

"…okay, did not see that one coming," Harry whispered.

~October 31st, Fourth Year~

"And… the fifth champion… for Angel Grove High…"

"Ah man," Jason moaned.

~The First Task~

"My way was showier," Harry complained, crossing his arms over his chest, broom in hand while Jason calmly walked back away from the dragon that was currently snoring as it lay sleeping on the stone floor of the arena.

"Mine was easier," Jason teased as he pocketed the Dragon Dagger he'd won off of Harry after a game of Exploding Snaps and used to play the 'Dragonzord Theme' upon so he might take control of the beast and tell it to sleep. It didn't feel right but Tommy's dagger had never felt right anyway so it wasn't as offputting as trying to use an alternate morpher was. "Bit odd to tell a dragon to rest instead of attack though."

"…my way was showier," Harry repeated with a huff.

~The Second Task~

Jason tilted his head as he stared at the post that was supposed to hold his hostage, the Bubblehead charm firmly in place. Rather than a person like the others had (with Harry getting the recently pardoned Sirius Black who was wearing, of all things, a sea pirate outfit) there was a box with a note, both clearly charmed to keep water from damaging them. Knowing that he was in the middle of the pack, Jason opened the note and read:

THE ONLY PERSON YOU WOULD MISS WE COULD USE WAS HARRY, SO HE SUGGESTIONED WE USE THIS INSTEAD

Jason opened the box and glowered. 'Ha ha, Harry.' Jason took the doll that looked just like Alpha 5 and began to paddle back to shore.

~Just After The Third Task~

"I would have much rather faced Harry Potter… but you will do, Jason Scott." Voldemort, looking very much like Harry had described (Pale, snakelike, no chance of ever getting laid… Harry had a bit of a dirty mind), was standing in the middle of the graveyard, surrounded by his Death Eaters, watching Jason with a critical eye. Jason had his morpher on him but wasn't about to use it, as he didn't want to reveal who he was to the dark wizards. Besides, Harry had told him of one of his favorite ways to deal with this little task and Jason was up to trying it. Especially after the Dark Lord had commanded his arm slashed and called him a mudblood. "It will break dear Harry to see his only friend's broken dead body presented to him-"

"The other you already used that one," Jason called out.

Voldemort blinked at that before pointing his wand at Jason. "Crucio!"

Jason had demanded that Harry perform as many dark spells on him as he could during their training for the Tournament, as Jason wanted to be ready for anything. So while the pain certainly was bad it wasn't unexpected and Jason managed to power his way through it, only crying out enough to convince Voldemort to stop.

"Learn your play mudblood! Now stand… face me if you can!"

"Are… are you challenging me to a duel?"

Voldemort considered his question. This was the tricky part… if it were Harry then Voldemort would have accepted easily. But with Jason he could just decide to kill him and be done with it. All of it depending if the Dark Lord was patient and willing to play with his prey or just wanted to get things over with.

"And…I'm actually a half blood," Jason called out, deciding to try and give Voldemort an extra push. "I… am the son of Sirius Black. Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Black."

"A Half Blood as the Head of House Black? How that great family has fallen." Yet Jason could hear in Voldemort's tone that he'd taken the bait. "So be it, Jason Scott-Black! Let us duel-"

"On my magic I accept!" Jason quickly called out, thrusting out his wand, causing both his and Voldemort's to flare with light, making the Dark Lord realize he'd just agreed to a Magical Oath. "And as you issued the challenge I choose weapons. I select our own hands and fists."

"Our hands and fists? Like muggles?" Voldemort exclaimed.

"You claim wizards are superior to muggles. Stronger. Smarter. Should be easy enough for you to defeat me. First to three falls, Malfoy is ref, on your mark."

"Mark?" Voldemort asked, his bluster and anger giving way to confusion… and then pain as Jason rushed in and delivered a solid kick to the Dark Wizard's side, knocking him down to the cold earth.

"Ref?"

Lucius Malfoy trembled as magic itself made him call out, "Point, Scott! Again!"

"Lucius, what are you-AAAAARRGGHHH!" Voldemort cried out as Jason swept his leg and sent him down again.

"Point, Scott! Again!"

"Cruci-" Jason grabbed voldemort's arm and tossed him over his shoulder.

"Point, Scott! Win!"

"Accio portkey and Voldemort's wand!" Jason called out, grabbing both. "Zordon, get me… sorry, force of habit!" Jason waved both his and Voldemort's wands before he was yanked away.

~Fifth Year~

"Jason?" Neville asked, approaching the Red Ranger as he ate lunch with Harry. They were discussing the article in the Daily Prophet that detailed how Dolores Umbridge had been found in a compromising situation with an Imperiused male prostitute who'd been half polyjuiced with a cat (Harry had some serious issues).

"Yeah Neville?"

"Is… is it true you defeated the Dark Lord using muggle fighting moves call karate?"

"Taekwondo and Judo, actually…" seeing that Neville found those terms as odd as he had found most of the spells he learned the Red Ranger took pity on the young man. "Yes, karate."

"Can… can anyone learn?"

Jason and Harry shared a look. "Well, yes… but they need to be dedicated to it. Put in the time. Can't just learn it in a day. Just like learning magic."

Neville shifted before, finally deciding to prove why he'd been placed in Gryffindor. "Could… could you teach me?"

"If you want."

Harry rubbed his chin. "I wonder if there is anyone else that wants to learn…"

~A Few Days Later~

"Careful with your stance, Dean," Jason said as he moved through the Room of Requirement, which had altered itself to look like Ernie's Juice Bar, complete with Dobby mixing drinks for the teens. "Bring your shoulders up a bit, Luna. Like that Neville… good Padma…"

~Several Months Later~

"What do you think Jason and Harry wanted to see us about?" Dean Thomas asked as he, Luna, Neville, and Padma made their way towards the Room of Requirement.

"Probably talk about… what happened," Padma said softly. It had been nearly a week since the disaster at the Ministry, and the Hogwarts Six had managed to stop Voldemort and the Death Eaters from obtaining the prophecy about Harry and the Dark Lord but at the cost of Harry's godfather and Jason's birthfather, Sirius Black. The two young men, the leaders of their group really, had secluded themselves after that, to deal with their grief, and the foursome had given them their privacy.

Luna moved to open the door, which was only there, only to pause. "We must be prepared… the Naggles are warning of change."

"I think we all know that change has come," Neville said before motioning for Luna to open the door to their training room.

But rather than the strange and colorful workout area that Jason called 'Ernie's' the foursome found themselves in a strange and otherworldly room. There were flashing lights and a massive seer's crystal ball and a ring of muggle equipment and a massive blue tube that reached the ceiling. And there, standing in the middle, were Harry and Jason… looking not at all upset but rather pleased with themselves.

"I know you have a lot of questions and we are going to give you the answers," Harry said. "But first… we have to go with tradition."

And with that the tube flared to light and a grinning blue face appeared within it.

"Remus! Voldemort has escaped! Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude!"

Remus Lupin, emerging from the shadows, glared at the massive blue face of Sirius Black. "They're already here." 

"Good… now recruit a team of buxom female Quidditch players to come and do star jumps for me."

Dean stepped forward. "Harry… Jason… what is going on? How did you…" 

"It's why we've been gone for the last few days," Harry said. "When Sirius went into the Veil we knew we only had a small amount of time to act. We had to perform several rituals in order to contact Sirius' soul in the afterlife and create this mystical tube that allows him to speak to us."

(In reality Harry had just taken one of his non-corrupted Resurrection Stones, tossed it into a giant cylinder of blue jello, and convince Sirius' spirit to play along. His godfather thought it was hilarious and it also meant he could keep hitting on angels in his down time.)

"What is all this?" Padma asked.

Harry cleared his throat. "The prophecy Voldemort wanted is as follows: _They've got… a power and a force that you've never seen before. They've got… the ability to morph and to even up the score. No one… can ever take them down. The power lies on their side!"_

"…okay, that doesn't even make sense to me," Luna said.

Jason grinned, practically bouncing on his feet. "The point is that there is a power… a power that can defeat the Dark Lord."

Remus pulled out a small chest and opened it to reveal 4 morphers.

~Two Years Later~

"You think you can defeat me?" Voldemort roared. They were standing in Hogwart's main court yard, with the defenders of the school on one side and Voldemort's Death Eaters on the other. Spell damage scarred the stone and grounds but the fighting had stopped the moment the six teens had stepped forward, led by Harry and Jason. It had been a long two years, filled with guerilla warfare and hit and run strikes but finally they'd forced Voldemort to bring his entire army to bear on Hogwarts for one last battle. "You are nothing but meddlesome children! Your colorful ranger protectors aren't here to save you! Bow to me and I may let you live to see my glorious empire!"

"Wrong on both counts!" Jason declared, reaching behind his back. "We aren't kids… and the Power Rangers are right here. It's Morphin' Time!"

"Mastodon!" Neville shouted.

"Pterodactyl!" Padma cried out.

"Triceratops!" Dean added.

"Sabertooth Tiger!" Luna declared.

"Tyrannosaurus!" Jason yelled.

"Dragonzord!" Harry finished, the suits materializing around the six.

"…they're the power rangers?" Ron asked Hermione in shock.

The six rangers rushed forward, calling their weapons even as Voldemort and his Death Eaters began to fire spells at them. But these rangers were using magic to enhance their morphing powers. Neville swung the Power Axe at one Death Eater, the juices of the Eureka Death Flower making the man scream like his skin was on fire… which it was. Padma could change her arrows to be any of the elements and was firing lightning, ice, and fire arrows at anyone who tried to get away, at one point pegging Lucius Malfoy right in the balls. As for Luna her daggers had been blessed with every bit of holy magic in the Wizarding World, something Fenrir Greyback discovered when he tried to get in close and exploded for his trouble. Dean's Power Lance could be split, allowing him to cast spells dual-handed as need be. Harry had bespelled the Dragonshield to reflect any spell, meaning that even the Killing Curse just bounced back at the one casting it, which took out the Carrows when they tried to sneak attack him. As for Jason, Harry had taught him how to merge items together and now the Invisibility Cloak was a part of his uniform and the Dragonshield he also wore thanks to his won Dragon Dagger, allowing him to fade in and out at will and sneak attack anyone who got in his way.

Finally it was just Harry and Voldemort, the two of them trading spell fire and insults as the few living Death Eaters and the much greater sized force of Hogwarts defenders watched on.

"You can't win, Tommy Boy. You have failed 6 times now… I thought after third year, when you decided not to show up, that you'd gotten the hint but here you are again." Harry moved to deliver a spin kick but Voldemort managed to throw up a shield.

"Watch your tone, Potter! You will fall just like your mudblood mother-"

Harry leapt away just in time to reveal Jason holding the combined Power Weapons in their Power Blaster form.

"-that's just not fair," Voldemort whimpered, sounding less like a dark lord and more like a child right before he was reduced to dust, his horocrux having been destroyed by the team the year prior without his knowledge.

"Sirius, are you sure that wasn't overkill?" Jason asked.

"Who cares!" Sirius called out from the Command Room via their communicators. "Is Bellatrix there? Shoot her too! This is so cool!"

~Hours Later…~ 

"So… how long do we got?" Jason asked, sitting on the top of the Astronomy tower.

"Considering we reduced Bellatrix to ashes and the offspring spell showed no children we don't have to worry about time traveling Voldemort kids. That means not long. Could even be tonight." Harry sat down next to Jason. "Gonna miss it?"

"Yes and no. I want to go home… but I made good friends." He sighed. "So weird that only you will remember all this."

"That's the pain of looping. Makes you savor the times when someone Awakes up with you."

"How long till we see each other again?"

"In a fused loop? Probably centuries, if not millennias. But just seeing each other?" Harry reached into his subspace pocket and pulled out what could only be described as a futuristic key. "Reed Richards built this using tech from the Kingdom Hearts world. We have a few places set up for Anchors and Loopers where we all can meet up. Just hold it out and turn it and you'll open the door. Keep that phone I gave you too… we can message each other. I might not be able to answer right away because, no offense, but being one of the Original Seven means I have millions of you guys I've met, but I remember you all and try hard to respond back. Also won't get offended if you can't answer me back… you'll build up your own call list soon enough."

Jason nodded and placed the key and the phone in his subspace, along with everything else he wanted to take with him. All he was leaving behind were the clothing he was currently wearing, as he'd decided to keep even his robes… just in case. "Still, I won't forget you, Harry. You showed me so much." 

"Use the knowledge well and teach new loopers like I taught you."

"Any final advice?"

"Be willing to be bold. It can get real boring to do the same thing over and over." 

Jason laughed. "Yeah… I get it but I don't think I can do that. Just not wired in me to goof around too much. Being a ranger… it's a duty. I have to take it seriously."

Harry just shook his head. "Oh you sweet summer child."

~M~L~P~P~ 

Author's Notes: What it ever in doubt that Jason would be in Gryffindor?

As for Snape Jason wore him down but doing the volunteer work and eventually Snape accepted him. For the rest of his Hogwarts Career Jason helped Snape when he could and by 5th year he was on a special self-study program when it came to potions.

Jason just can't catch a break when it comes to monsters. Luckily he is able to morph (and like Justin grow to adult size when he does so) and take him out before he becomes a true threat.

I've seen several versions of Harry vs. Voldemort in the graveyard but never one where Harry tricks Voldemort into a magical oath. As for the inspiration, that would be Have Chrome Will Travel, where Harry tricks Draco into a duel… and they use video games. And yes, Voldemort would then spend much of Fifth Year trying to learn karate.

Harry is smart enough to avoid the Asian getting Yellow and the Black Guy being Black.

And finally Jason thinks he can just baseline the loops forever… oh boy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Loop 4**

Jason blinked his eyes open and looked about his room. And it was his room. The room he'd had until he'd moved out of his parents place. The room he'd had when he was the Red Ranger. He was back in Angel Grove, at the start of a new loop.

Thrusting out his hand he checked to make sure his subspace pocket was available still and sighed in relief when he felt his morpher, the invisibility cloak, his wand, some bottles that made up the warehouse-worth of potion supplies, and all the other goodies Harry had let him keep (including the Hallows, the Philosopher's Stone, and a Time Turner to name a few) that he had kept from his time at Hogwarts. Taking out his wand he cast a quick Lumos, confirming he still had his magic, before putting the wand back and sealing up the rift. Harry hadn't had time to train him how to do wandless magic or become an animagnus (apparently became INSANELY common for loopers to learn that despite it being a rare trait in Harry's world), as they had focused on getting him up to a magical level where he could defeat Dumbledore and Voldemort in a duel, but the magical Anchor had given Jason books on the subject that he would read in his spare time.

'But I will only use it in extreme cases,' Jason thought to himself as he tossed off his pajama top and began to pad his way down the hall to the bathroom, wanting to get in a shower before his sister woke up. 'I'm not like Harry… I can't just go playing around with people's lives. I will protect Angel Grove and defeat threats… I won't use these new powers purely to keep myself from being bored.

~A Few Weeks Later~

"Jason, you will command the power of the mighty Tyrannosaurus."

The new Red Ranger nodded respectfully to his mentor.

~18 Days Later~

"Hey, you'll never be able to beat MY record, dweeb!" Bulk declared as Jason sat up on the weight lifting bench, accepting a towel from Kimberly. Jason didn't say a word and let Bulk walk away, snorting and chortling with Skull; it was annoying as Jason knew for a fact that he could, right at this instant, defeat Bulk's record with ease (when you already had mastered martial arts moves that you wouldn't learn for another 3 years in the baseline it was easy to find the time to just focus on working out) he knew that he had to make it seem like he couldn't. Would just be too odd if he beat the record in the first shot.

~A Month and a half later~

"What is up with Billy and Kim?" Zack asked, watching as the two walked away, dressed in leather and giving people the evil eye.

"I don't know… something isn't right," Jason said, keeping a level of concern and worry in his voice. 'And by that I mean they totally are under a spell and how was I so stupid back then not to catch on…' He mentally shook his head. 'It's fine, it's fine… Alpha and Zordon will get them fixed up. Now, was it Terror Toad or Pudgy Pig that we fought this time?'

~28 Days Later~

Jason rolled his shoulders, working the tension out as he stared across the mat at Tommy. This was their first meeting and back then the two of them had been evenly matched, able to go round after round with neither one of them knowing who would win. He quickly went through his move set and decided on his line of attack; with two loops of being a Power Ranger and one being a Hogwarts Ranger Jason knew moves that would leave Tommy on the floor in five seconds flat. But doing so would mean that Rita never grew interested in Tommy and while it was horrible that he had been brainwashed to be her evil minion when he had been freed he'd become a great ally and eventually taken over as leader of the Power Rangers.

'If I'm going to do the Peace Conference again then I'll need to have Tommy set up to become the evil Green Ranger. I hate doing it… but if he were in my shoes he'd do the same.'

Thus Jason stepped up to the mat and prepared to throw half his sparring matches with Tommy to ensure they tied.

~5 months Later~

"Our Zords!" Kimberly cried out, watching as Zedd's monster easily knocked out their Dinozords.

"What are we going to do now?" Zack whispered.

It hurt Jason not to be able to comfort his friends but he knew that he had to let this happen. He sought comfort in the fact that Zordon would remake the Zords into new forms soon enough…

~Several Years Later…~

Jason dug through the Command Center, looking for a morpher. While he did have his morpher from his Hogwarts loop he didn't want to risk taking it out, just in case everything reset and he lost it. Better to keep it in subspace.

'Wish I could have kept the one from this go-around, that way I'd have a spare… but there isn't any way around it. Now then-'

And then the ceiling collapsed upon him. And while he knew normally he'd survive this, that he would go on to find his morpher and lead the other red rangers into one last glorious battle before he kept to the shadows (save for that Legacy War that was more of a Legacy Skirmish) he had a feeling that once again… this would start the loop over for him.

 **Loop 5**

Jason woke up in his bedroom, back as a teenager.

"Okay… let's go again," he said.

~39 Days Later~

"You'll never beat my record, dweeb!" Bulk cackled.

"Don't let him get to you, Jay," Zack said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I won't."

~Nearly 4 Months Later~

"Point!" the ref called as Jason looked down at Tommy.

"You're good," Tommy said.

"You too," Jason lied, wishing Tommy, at this point, knew a few extra moves. He hadn't had a challenging sparring match in ages.

~Years Later~

"I swore the ceiling collapsed right-"

 **Loop 6**

Jason rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Okay, time to get up…"

~Two Months Later~

"What is up with Kim and Billy?"

"What do you mean?" Jason asked dryly.

"They're acting different," Trini stated, Zack nodding.

"You mean apart from the leather and acting like after school special bullies?"

Zack nodded. "You see it too?" 

Trini frowned. "Do you think it's a spell?"

Jason fought the urge to roll his eyes.

~6 Months Later~

"Our Zords!" Kim wailed.

"What do we do now?" Trini whispered.

"Zordon will have a plan. He knew about Zedd," Jason said, trying to buck up his friends.

"This is just awful," Billy stated, hugging Kim as she cried.

"Guys? Come on… we've been through worst situations…"

"Not like this," Zack said, sounding utterly defeated.

'Grant me strength.'

~Several Years Later~

"Any time now!" Jason shouted at the ceiling of the Command Center

 **Loop 7**

Jason looked up at the ceiling and let out a grunting growl that might have worked as words if one was charitable.

~Several Weeks Later~ 

'Oh I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, do do do' Jason mentally sang as Zordon once more rambled on about being a Power Ranger and what Dinosaur would represent them or they represented. Honestly, he wondered if Zordon's sole wizarding powers were long running speeches.

~18 Days later~

"You'll never-"

"-beat your record," Jason said, rolling his eyes. "oh, and you'll call me a dweeb even though I'm one of the most popular guys in school. Uh huh, sure."

Bulk began to sputter and Skull stepped up. "Hey, you want us-"

"-to teach you a lesson," Jason said, overlapping his word's with Skull's. "Unless it is dressing in leather, pass. Save that for Kim and Billy in a few months."

"I… I don't…"

"Guys, just go," Jason said, the two 'bullies' shuffling away, utterly confused, while his friends just stared at him. "What?"

~A Month and a Half Later~

"What-" Zack began only for Jason to cover his mouth.

"Spell. They are under a spell. Rita. Let's just go see Zordon."

"You sure Jay?" Zack asked.

"…yeah," Jason said with a weary sigh.

~28 Days Later~

"Stop dropping your shoulder!" Jason complained, Tommy staring at him in confusion. "Listen, ref, hold up a moment, this is bothering me." Jason walked behind Tommy and put his hands on his shoulders. "Lift here. Spread you legs. Yeah, see how your center of gravity doesn't shift…" 

"What is Jason doing?" Kim asked.

Billy's brow furrowed. "It appears he is has become inclined to give his competitor a series of lessons to ensure his stance and posture are correct." 

Kim and Zack looked to Trini but before she could answer Jason called out, "He said I am teaching Tommy stuff! Come on, we've known Billy for years, it's not that hard to follow!"

~5 Months Later~

"Our Zords!" Kimberly cried out.

"What are we… Jason?"

The team turned to find Jason already walking back to the Command Center.

~Several Months Later~

"I really don't need to go to the Peace Conference!" Jason complained.

"I believe you do," Zordon intoned. "It is a wonderful opportunity. And it is a chance to step away from the stress of being a Ranger…"

Jason ground his teeth.

~Several Years later~

"FALL! ALL! READY!" Jason roared, stomping up and down, trying to get the ceiling to fall and reloop him already.

 **Loop 8**

Jason leapt out of bed, a manic gleam in his eye. "Okay! The problem is my attitude! Can't let it get to me!" He slapped his cheeks and let out a roar. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

~Several Weeks Later~

"Jason, you will-" 

"Right, totally sold, evil monster. Let's do this!" Jason was already morphed and running out the Command Center before Zordon could even comprehend what he was doing. "Come on guys!" Jason called out to his friends, who were looking at each other in utter confusion and shock. "LLEEEEEROOOOOYYYY JEENNNNNKIIINS!"

~18 Days Later~

"Jason, I believe you can cease your muscular activities. Bulk's record has been completely dismantled," Billy said as Jason did another set of reps.

"Yeah," Kim said awkwardly, looking over in the corner where Bulk was rocking back and forth, crying and whispering that no one should be able to do as many reps as Jason had. "And I think you might have beaten the world record."

Jason just kept going.

~A Month and a half later~

"Why did my spell not work?!" Rita screeched, watching as Kim and Billy merely stopped for half a second before continuing on like nothing had happened. "Why do none of my spells work!?"

No one noticed Jason pocket it wand.

~28 Days Later~

"And Jason Scott sweeps the tournament!" the announcer called out as an utterly destroyed Tommy was seen to by the paramedics.

'Okay, maybe that last kick was a touch too hard…'

"Get the paddles!"

"Oh god, anyone seen his ear?!"

~5 months Later~

"Jason, stop!" Trini cried. "They are gone!"

"Nope, pulling them out myself!" Jason cried out, a large rope he'd borrowed from a tool store wrapped around his waist, the other end tied to his Tyrannozord.

~Several Years Later~

Jason poked at the ceiling with a long stick. "Come on… come on…" He paused, considering what he was doing. "Wait… maybe I did it right this time and I can continue on with the-"

 **Loop 9**

Jason laid in bed, refusing to get up, even as his mother told him he'd be late for school

~Several Weeks Later~

"Jason, you will… Jason?"

"Snort!" Jason mumbled, his eyes closed.

Alpha walked over and poked him, causing Jason to lightly rock back and forth. "Aiaiai! I think he's fallen asleep!"

"No… no… I don't wanna see you do jumping jacks Prof. McGonagall…" Jason snored. 

~18 Days Later~

"You'll never beat my record, dweeb!" Bulk declared.

"Yup!" Jason said with false cheer. "So I won't ever try. Congrats, Bulk, you are the best. I even had this trophy made for you!"

"You… you did?" Bulk said, oddly touched as Jason handed him a small trophy with his name and the words 'Best Bench Press Guy At Ernie's' on it. "This… thanks dweeb!"

Jason looked over at his friends, all of them standing there with their jaws open. "What?"

~A Month and a half later~

"What is wrong with Kim and Billy?" Trini asked.

"Was there something different about them?" Jason asked, focused entirely on the Gameboy he'd purchased. "Hadn't noticed… oh come on, I hit Jump!"

~28 Days Later~

"And it is a clean sweep for Tommy Oliver!" the ref declared.

Jason, still on the ground, called out, "Yes, Tommy is amazing. And awesome! If any evil space witches are listening they should totally turn him into their evil minion!"

Tommy leaned towards Kim. "I think I hit your friend too hard."

~5 months Later~

"Our Zords!" Kim cried out.

Jason just looked to the sky. "You know what… screw it. Let Zedd have this one. Can't be any worse than the Presidents we've had so far." When the others just looked at him and glowered he let out a moan. "FINE! Let's stop him!"

~Several Years Later~

"What is life?" Jason said to the empty Command Center. He was lying on his back, looking up at the cracked ceiling… the same thing he'd been doing for the last few weeks, honestly. "Are we just pain receptors in a dark void hurtling towards oblivion?"

 **Loop 10**

Jason woke up, took several calming breaths, and then reached into his subspace pocket and pulled out the phone Harry had given him.

~In A Concurrent Loop~

Harry paused, his phone buzzing. In the Gryffindor Tower every other Looper was seated, working on projects or just lounging around. When they'd all realized that everyone was Awake this time and everything appeared to be baseline they'd decided to just kill Voldemort in Harry's first year and then spend the next 7 or so years catching up on things that had been waiting for them. Hermione, having learned that Twilight Sparkle had the entire Library of Alexandria in her subspace, had decided she couldn't be outdone and was cataloging all her books, wanting to create the greatest library in Yggdrasil. Ron was going through his collection of chess boards and ranking them from favorite to least favorite. Ginny, who had taken up hacking about 4,000 loops back, was working on creating her own version of Yggdrasil for… reasons. Luna was answering her fan mail (she got more than him, much to his annoyance) while Neville had decided to learn to play the guitar (they weren't all odd/humorous). As for Harry himself he had, after his latest Fused Loop, borrowed Optimus Prime's DVD boxset of Downton Abbey so he could see what the baseline was like for that.

His phone buzzed and Harry picked it up. He'd spent the last 3 years going through old messages and was finally caught up, meaning that a new message actually got read right when it was sent.

HARRY: TELL WHOEVER HAD 6 LOOPS FOR ME TO BREAK WINS. –JASON

"Hey Ginny?" Harry called out. "Call Geralt for me and tell him he won the Jason Scott Betting Pool!"

Groans filled the tower.

~Back In Jason's Loop, a Few Weeks Later~

Jason hide a smirk as Zordon began his speech about the Power Coins and being a ranger. He'd been nervous at first when he'd decided to begin playing around with his loops, altering things and generally having fun, but now that the moment was at hand to finally make his first major change to the baseline (and he didn't count the changes he'd made during his Over Eager Jason Loop and his Apathetic Jason Loop) he found all his nervous energy had faded and all he felt was utter excitement. Jason had worked hard to be a good person. He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he followed school rules and obeyed his parents. He had fought for justice and freedom as a ranger. He had volunteered whenever he could and had dedicated much of his teenage years to helping others.

It was time to be a bit selfish.

He was careful to avoid Sakura Syndrome. Harry had drilled into his head the warning signs and it had been his fear of ending up like her in his last loop that had convinced him that he needed to take Harry's advice and relax. Not too much, of course... just enough so that he could entertain himself and, eventually, the rest of his friends when they began looping as well. He had decided to start with something small but meaningful... and something that checked a box on his To-Do List of items he wanted to obtain.

"Zordon," Jason said, stepping forward and interrupting his mentor in the middle of explaining the origin of the Power Coins. "How do you choose who gets what coin? Because... I feel one calling to me."

It was sometimes hard to read Zordon, what with him being a giant floating head that seemed to have trouble holding his shape at times, wobbling and wiggling like a ball of goo in a lava lamp. But Jason could tell that Zordon was surprise and pleased by his interruption.

"That speaks well of you, Jason. A ranger who feels a deep connection to their Power Coin is a powerful warrior for light." Alpha stepped forward and, in the first major change to the timeline, presented the Power Coins in a black and red box, rather than just bestowing them onto him via magic. "Clearly, you are meant-"

Jason reached over and snatched up the Pterodactyl Power Coin.

"-to... have..." Zordon trailed off.

"Uh, Jason... that is the Pink Power coin," Alpha stated

Jason raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "It is? Huh. Neat." He flipped and caught it with ease. "Cool." He turned to his friends. "So, what coins do you guys want? Any speaking to you?"

Zack stepped forward. "Jason, man... you sure you want a PINK power coin?"

"Yeah, totally," Jason said. "I mean, I can feel it calling to me." And he could, now that he thought about it. Once he had made his decision the coin had already begun to bond with him, connecting his own inner power with it. Even if he wanted to take this loop's Red Power Coin it would feel just like the ones Harry had. He just knew it.

"But, traditionally pink has been seen as the pigment of those possessing the XY chromosomes," Billy stated.

"So? It's the 90s, man. I'm open minded."

Zordon frowned. "But Jason... don't you think... someone else should have that coin?"

"Not really. I mean, just feels right."

"But what about Kimberly?" Zordon asked.

"What about her?" Jason asked. "There are still other coins... here." He grabbed the Red Power Coin and tossed it to Kim, who caught it easily. "That one will work for her."

Zordon cleared his throat, which Jason found odd considering he didn't even have one. "Jason, the Pterodactyl is graceful and majestic, in complete control of its movements-"

"Perfect!" Jason exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Martial Arts are all about balance and control. Knowing how to move and how to position yourself. See, told you it was a perfect fit."

"But," Alpha stammered, "the Tyrannosaurus is powerful and determined-"

"Just like Kim!" Jason said, slapping his hand onto her shoulder.

"It is?" Kim asked, a bit startled.

"Of course! Everyone thinks because you are a girl and a bit on the short side they can push you around... but you never give an inch! You are brave and determined and fierce!"

"I am?" Kim said before suddenly nodding. "I mean... yeah, I am! Bulk and Skull always try to mess with us and I never let them get away with anything!"

A bit weaker now Zordon said, "The Red Ranger is traditionally the leader of the team-"

"And Kim will be the best leader ever! I look forward to service at her side." His friend seemed to swell up with determination as the seconds ticked by and by the time he was finished speaking Kim was clutching the Red Power Coin tightly in her hand, a steely look in her eye.

"Well... I suppose if that is the will of the Power... I will not judge. We will need to alter your costume a bit Jason-"

"Why?" He asked before Zordon could move on to giving the others their coins.

Alpha shuffled nervously. "The Pink Power Ranger is typically female and well..." the viewing screen activated and Jason saw Kim's suit in full.

"Cool, has a kilt."

Zack tilted his head. "I think that's a skirt."

"Nah, man, that's a kilt! All the most brave and powerful warriors wear kilts. William Wallace, Rob Roy, Groundskeeper Willie! I am totally wearing a kilt when I am a Ranger, to honor my proud Scottish roots."

"But... you..." Jason watched, secretly bemused as Zordon managed to actually hang his head. "Very well."

~Two days later~

Jason was moving through a few katas, working to get his muscle memory to match what his brain remembered when it came to his moves. Trini was instructing Billy on his own movements while Zack worked on his Hip Hop Aikido and Kim was on the balance beam. She had donned her new pair of red tights and was doing a series of flips that would one day net her 3 gold medals at the Pan Olympic Games.

As for Jason he was wearing one of his new pink tank tops, a pink headband on his head. His mother and father had been a bit... disturbed... by his sudden fashion choices but had finally accepted it as normal teenage rebellion. His friends had decided not to say a word, both because they didn't want another explanation why pink was truly a manly color and because they feared upsetting Kim, who had rapidly grown into her role as leader and didn't take kindly to when people thought she should be more 'girly'. She still dressed nicely but she was focused more on how she felt than how she looked.

"Well lookie here, Skull!" a familiar voice called out and Jason inwardly smirked. He'd been looking forward to this. "Look at what we have here!"

"I see it, Bulk!" The two meat head bullies marched up to Jason, the newly christened Pink Ranger almost able to hear the wacky music that Harry claimed always played when the two appeared on the Power Rangers TV show. "Look at Pinkie Winkie here! Heehehehehe!"

Bulk nodded and got right in Jason's face. "What's with the pink, dweeb?"

With an utterly straight face Jason said, "Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness."

"...really?" Bulk said, surprised.

"Yeah, really?" Skull echoed.

"Yeah. Decided it is a really important cause."

Bulk took a step back... and then pulled back his vest to reveal a pink Breast Cancer ribbon pinned to his dark blue shirt. "My grandma died of breast cancer. It's horrible, man."

"Yeah... she was an awesome lady," Skull said sadly, blinking away tears. "Kind and sweet and I once saw her benchpress 500 pounds."

"We're going to stop this, you hear me," Bulk said, his voice wavering slightly. "We will find the cure."

"In our lifetime," Jason said, hiding his surprise. He hadn't expected that reaction.

"You sign up yet for the Cancer Charity Run next month in Stone Canyon? Me and Skull do it every year."

Jason hadn't, as he didn't even know Stone Canyon had a Breast Cancer Awareness Charity run. "No but I'm going to do some tomorrow."

Skull grinned and pulled out a pink beanie from his pocket and put it on. "Cool. How about we run together during it. Stand strong together."

"Uh... yeah, sure," Jason said with a bemused but genuine smile.

Bulk wrapped an arm around Jason and called out, "Any of you dweebs think about messin' with my man Jason here will need to deal with me and Skull! You hear me?"

Everyone just stared at Bulk and Skull walked off, Jason just shrugging when Ernie shot him a look. "Real men wear pink, I guess."

~A few months later~

Jason settled down in his seat, wearing a pink t-shirt and black jeans, making sure he could see the screen well. Tommy had been broken out of Rita's spell a few weeks back, despite the oddness of it all. Jason wasn't quite sure WHY but apparently in this loop Tommy Oliver was a famous gymnast and the team met him when he and Kim had competed at the same expo, the two of them taking golds in their respective competitions. That had been enough for Rita, who had see that Tommy could match the grace and skill of the Red Ranger and decided Tommy would make the perfect Green Ranger. The battles with Tommy had been... odd... as rather than focusing on quick in close attacks as he had in the baseline this Tommy had preferred to leap about the battlefield, striking and lashing out at one ranger only to send himself flinging across whatever quarry or street they were fighting in and attack a new ranger.

But in the end they'd freed Tommy and were now trying to integrate him more into the group. Jason could tell his friend was nervous, as he always seemed to shuffle about and keep to himself whenever Jason tried to engage him in conversation... more so than usual.

'Still can't believe he was the one to suggest this,' Jason thought as he scanned the theater. Tommy had come to him after class the day before and suggested the team check out a movie... a kind of bonding exercise. Jason had quickly agreed, seeing it as a way to hang out with Tommy without it getting super awkward by forcing them to engage directly. Baby steps to help Tommy deal with what had happened.

"Hey man, great seats!" Tommy called out and he moved his way down the aisle and sat down next to Jason.

"Yeah, luckily there aren't that many people here." Jason looked at his watch. "Cutting it close there."

"Heh, I'm always late, it seems," Tommy joked and Jason grinned, remembering just how true that was. Never had he met a ranger so bad at keeping track of time as Tommy Oliver. "Still, made it just in time. I hear this is a great film."

"Yeah. And besides, you aren't the only one that is late. No sign of the others."

"Oh, they couldn't make it," Tommy said with a shrug as the lights went down. "Guess it's just you and me."

And then he put his arm around Jason's shoulder.

That was when Jason learned that the old Ranger joke was actually true: Tommy did have a thing for Pink Rangers.

~A Few Years Later~ 

"I'm glad we are doing this, man," Adam said as he brought in a box and set it down on the floor. "We were worried with your dad getting that new job you'd have to leave the team."

Jason smiled slightly at that; in this timeline Kim's parents had stayed together and it was Jason's family that moved, meaning he had to move in with Adam. It seemed that this loop was really switching up him and Kim; she had gone to the peace conference and Kat had arrived a year earlier, taking over at Red Ranger with Adam and Aishia as Black and Yellow. "I'm just glad your folks are letting me stay…" he trailed off, staring at a large stone on Adam's mantle. "What is that?"

"Oh, that's my new pet rock!"

Jason stared at the stone… that looked just like Rocky's face.

'Okay, now reality is just screwing with me!' Jason thought.

 **Loop 11**

"I cannot tell a lie!" the obese bear monster in a powdered wig and wearing a colonial army uniform known as Gorge Washington cried out, swinging a pair of axes. "I am going to gobble you all up!" He waved his weapons and fired off a beam of energy from each one, the team managing to dive away so that only a poor tree was caught in the beam, transforming it into a cherry pie that the monster promptly snatched up and ate.

Even after looping for 9 times now Jason still had managed to block the memory of this particular foe from his brain.

"Okay, seriously... is Rita just running out of ideas?" Zack complained.

"This isn't even factually accurate!" Billy complained. "The tale of Washington cutting down a cherry tree is merely a myth-"

"That doesn't really matter at the moment, Billy!" Tommy exclaimed. "We need to figure out how to stop this thing."

"Let us try!" Trini declared and her and Kim drew their blade blasters. The two leapt into the air and fired at the monster, who cried out as he was struck only to pop back up.

"Even if you had four score and seven years to defeat me you'd never succeed."

"That isn't even Washington!" Billy complained again.

"We need to combined our weapons!" Kim called out as Gorge Washington created a cherry-shaped shield to block their blasts. "We can't even dent him otherwise!"

"Alright," Jason said, nodding and standing up. "Let's-"

Gorge threw an axe at him that hit him right in the head (handle, not blade, thankfully) and sent him tumbling back.

"Jason!" his friends cried out, rushing over to him even as the monster cackled and mocked them. Trini shook him while Tommy asked if he was okay. Thankfully they couldn't see his face with his mask on as Jason was smirking up a storm... he'd been debating what to do this loop and Gorge Washington had given him a great idea.

"Jason, can you hear me?" Kim asked again.

"Da, I most certainly can hear you, comrade!" Jason said with the thickest, most stereotypical Russian accent he could manage. "I see willianous Symbol of American Decadence still stands. We must bring the full might against him!"

"Uh... Jason?"

Standing up and brushing aside their hands that tried to keep him down Jason stepped forward. "Hey, American swine! You and your corpulent ways are an affront to the glorious worker's paradise. In the name of Stalin I shall defeat you... for I the RED Ranger!"

"...wait, what?" Gorge Washington declared just before Jason rushed him, using his now almost century of being a ranger to easily get past his defenses and deliver a blow that had the monster reeling. "Uh... we have nothing to fear but fear itself?"

"You have nothing to fear but da collapse of your bloated capitalist ideals! For the glory of Mother Russia!" Jason slammed both his fists into the monster's face. "I am the wessel of unity and equality! Down with the elitists!" Several more quick strikes and the monster exploded. "Comrades, monster is defeated! Let us drink moose milk to celebrate!"

"Jason?" Kim said slowly. "I think you need to sit down. That blow to the head..."

"There is no time to sit, sister in arms! We must wanquish more of Rita's wile forces!"

"Okay, we need to get him to Zordon now..." Zack said just before Rita's staff landed near the remains of Gorge Washington, causing him to grow.

"READ MY LIPS... NO NEW RANGERS!"

"Have to wait for that!" Billy exclaimed. "We need to call our zords."

"Yes! Let us unite like the communist party and crush the bloated American pig dog!" Jason shouted, pressing his hands on his hips and holding his head high.

"How about you just let Tommy and us handle this with the Dragonzord?" Kim said weakly.

"Da! I shall summon Power Sickle and Hammer and prepare to aid you, beloved comrades!" He shook his fist. "Down with the capitalists!"

~Hours Later~

"There appears to be nothing physically wrong with him," Alpha explained, Jason pretending that he was too busy reading a copy of the Communist Maniesto to pay attention to him. "The scans show that everything is fine."

"Everything isn't fine!" Zack snapped, gesturing in Jason's direction. "He thinks he's a Russian communist super soldier or something!"

"For Lenin!" Jason called out randomly, thrusting out his fist before returning to his reading.

"Do you think it is a spell?" Trini asked and Jason merely gave a point to Trini for being the first to suggest that AND so soon; usually it took his friends far too long to think Rita might be involved with a radical change in personality.

"I do not detect the mark of Rita's dark sorcery," Zordon declared.

"And even then what would be the point?" Tommy asked. "Jason still wants to fight and be a ranger... he just thinks he is a communist."

"Think nothing, comrade! I am proud to stand with you all as Iron Curtain against vain and wasteful Capitalist Witch Rita! Though perhaps you should get hair cut in more dignified manner. Look like gypsy hippie."

"Gypsy hippie?" Tommy muttered and Jason almost broke character, having to turn away before he laughed.

Trini turned to their mentor. "What should we do, Zordon?"

"For now you must return to your normal lives. Alpha and I will look over Jason's scans more... perhaps we will find something we missed."

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Zack asked. "People are going to ask questions if he begins demanding we divide the city into East and West Angel Grove."

"Yeah. People are going to notice," Kim added.

"You'll just need to stay with him, make sure he doesn't draw to much attention to himself," Alpha stated.

"I guess we can do that," Tommy said, still looking hurt over the gypsy hippie comment. "Thanks Zordon."

"Yes, much gratitude giant floating head of Lenin!" Jason called out as his friends led him away.

Alpha flailed his arms about. "Aiaiai."

~The Next Day~

"Okay... so we just have to take shifts watching him," Trini stated as the gang sat at a table at Ernie's. They were dressed in their normal street clothes... except Jason, who was wearing a Russian military uniform he'd purchased at a costume shop. "Make sure he doesn't do anything crazy."

"Or crazier," Tommy quipped.

"That too."

"Daughter of Mao, there is no need to watch over me. I will survive perfectly among fat stupid Americans, same as you!"

Trini scowled. "Ignoring that first part... it's things like that Jason that are just wrong to say! Americans-"

He pointed at Bulk and Skull, the former having gotten his hand stuck in a pickle jar and the latter was struggling to free him.

"...okay, they don't count!"

~One Hour Later~

"You manage to do balance beam well, Kimberly," Jason said with a smile.

Kim, for her part, blushed. "Thanks Jason."

"Would do better if old fat man were yelling at you for 20 hours a day before you sleep in government approved home, never to see family again and then sent to Siberia when you turn 17."

"...I'll keep that in mind," Kim said, less thankful.

~45 Minutes Later~

"See man... how can you hate the good ol' US of A when they mean these awesome tunes?" Zack said as he grooved to a hip hop beat.

"Bah, American drivel!" Jason declared with a dismissive wave of his hand, pulling out a cassette he'd gotten ahead of time for his little scheme. He yanked out Zack's music and put in some Russian folk music. "Da, that is what eweryone knows is real music!" He stood up and crossed his arms, doing a traditional Russian kick dance about the Juice Bar.

~An Hour Later~

"And do you not see the benefits? Without need to focus on accumulation of filthy green money the minds of the Mother Land can focus on endeavors worthy of us! To boldly learn to master our world as we will master out enemies."

"I must admit that is a good analysis..." Billy said, rubbing his chin.

"Jason!" Tommy exclaimed. "Stop trying to turn Billy into a communist!"

"But all are welcomed in Worker's Paradise, comrade who looks like sickly forest witch!"

"Just... just stop."

Billy lifted up some literature Jason had given him. "Can I keep the pamphlets?"

Before Tommy could answer their communicators went off. "Yeah Zordon?" Tommy asked.

"Rangers, Rita has sent down two monsters to attack the shopping district."

"More like she wishes to keep her capitalist masters in power by oppressing the workers!" Jason declared.

"...we'll be right there," Tommy finished before nodding to the others. "Let's go guys." The friends ran outside before taking out their morphers. "It's morphin' time!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Sabertooth Tiger!"

"Down with the aristocracy!"

"Dragon-wait what?"

The six of them managed to still morph and were quickly teleported to the shopping district o find citizens fleeing in terror, crying out in fear.

"Heads up, guys!" Zack called out. "The monsters must... be... here..."

He trailed off as he saw just what the monsters were.

"Okay, Rita must be screwing with us," Kim said, shoulders slumping.

Jason wasn't for sure if Rita had planned this or not but all he could do is bite back a laugh before he pointed at the wicked horned mammal monster and his smaller winged rodent companion. "Come comrades... let us defeat MOOSE AND SQUIRREL! For Mother Russia!"

"For Mother Russia!" Billy called only for Tommy to grab his shoulder and shake his head. "Oh... sorry... got caught up in it all."

Jason snorted even as he went into battle.

~M~L~P~R~

Author's Notes: And thus we see what happens when you try to baseline your loops… you snap. You just… snap. Thankfully Jason didn't go all Sakura Syndrome and has decided to have fun with his loops, as we see here. I have a massive notebook filled with ideas and I just love picking them out and exploring them.

No fused loop this time as I feel some stories do WAY too many of those. Power Rangers is a massive franchise… should be able to play around in it a lot more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Loop 12**

"See, I didn't realize that Fused Loops were so common," Jason said to Higurashi Kagome, who in this loop had replaced of all people Billy, making Trini their tech expert. His fellow Anchor and him were sitting on top of the Command Center, celebrating their defeat of Lord Zedd after Kagome had used the Power Bow (and in this loop the Blue Ranger got a bow and the Pink Ranger a lance) to fire purifying energy at the evil space overlord, transforming him into a rather normal-looking Asian man in a suit. Apparently, from they'd gathered from 'Ala' (Zedd's real name) he along with many of the other flesh and blood villains the Rangers faced were in fact corrupted heroes and rulers that someone named Dark Specter had transformed into evil creatures. According to Kagome the Space Rangers found this out in the normal baseline when a Space Ranger named Andros shattered Zordon's tube and spread him pure and good essence across their galaxy, undoing the corrupting spells. Kagome had decided to just speed things along; it was only because Rita had sensed Kagome's magic that she hadn't shown up on Earth to taunt the rangers like she normally did that had forced Kagome to wait for as long as she had.

"They begin to pop up more and more as one loops," the time traveling miko told him, drinking one of the colas Jason had snagged; she had asked for beer but Jason never liked the taste and Kagome had settled on the soda, wagering that any American booze would taste horrible anyway after she'd had so much of Sesshamarou's private sake. "But it also depends on how much of your baseline opens. I've met people that only have a year or so for their baseline so they get to fuses quicker. Others have a bit longer. And still more have decades or centuries to play with so there is more room for them to wake up at different times." She paused, pursing her lips. "Of course, things are odd for you. Most of us have looped into that reality where Tommy-san is the Anchor... you and your reality shouldn't even be open."

"Any idea why that is yet?"

Kagome shrugged. "Not really. I don't think much about those kinds of things. Got enough complexities with having two different time periods I could loop through AND technically having two different lives."

"Ouch."

Kagome grinned and nudged her foot with his. "Don't think you're getting the easy path though. With Tommy-san's Power Rangers reality it started off with him like you but he soon got opened up to other teams."

"You mean like the Space Rangers?"

"Even more than that. Inuyasha was part of SPD's A Squad with me and another time my entire gang went through a fused loop where we replaced the Samurai Rangers."

"...so I have that to look forward to on top of people invading my loops and me invading theirs." Jason took a long drag off his cola. "Joy."

"Aw, buck up Jason-san!" Kagome said with a grin. "Fused loops can be fun!" She bumped her shoulder into his. "Been having fun with me, right?"

"That's true," Jason admitted. "It's nice to have someone who knows what is going on and that I can talk to. Fun to prank people but not so much when I'm the only one who really gets the joke."

"Yeah, when you loop alone it makes you appreciate when you have others joining you." Kagome stared up at the sky, the setting sun making it turn a beautiful mixture of orange and purple and red and gold. "But fused loops where you go someplace else are fun. Like a vacation if you end up in a good one."

"And a bad one?"

"You get some neat toys and gear," Kagome admitted. "There are some of us who loop just to see what odd things we can grab. Money doesn't end up meaning much to most of us but cool gadgets and weapons? That can be fun. Wait till we get a massive fused loop, with hundreds of realities… we do swap meets. Besides, if you get a really bad one you can request your admin send you to Equestria for a sanctuary loop."

"People keep mentioning the Admins but I have yet to meet one."

"They only pop up when things get a bit too intense for an anchor. Be glad you haven't met yours." She set her bottle of cola aside and leaned back, swinging her feet back and forth. "How long you think we have left?"

"Hard to tell. Once I stopped trying to keep everything to the base line the length began to vary. Sometimes it ends when Zordon forces us all to retire and replaces the entire team. Last time I managed to get into my thirties, well after Astronama attacked. Tried to keep track of the ranger teams but at that point most were in space or the government was covering them up. If I had to guess I'd say at least another three years, if not more."

"Neat," Kagome said. "I want to try and take a few zords with me, if you don't mind. Always helpful to have some around. Plus will freak out Inuyasha if I bring a giant yellow cat with me."

"If you can manage it go ahead. I've got several of my T-rex, my Thunder Dragon, the Thunder Bird, Pyramidias, Tor, and Titanus, and I plan to snag a few extras this round with Zedd out of the picture. Definitely getting the Ape this time, as I have no plans to go to the conference this time." He would have never been able to get that many Zords if Harry hadn't shared with him how to transfigure them and shrink them down; most loopers didn't go for the big stuff until they have several hundred thousand loops under their belt and their subspace pocket had grown big enough to house whole words, if not solar systems. But Harry had realized Jason's life would mean needing to tuck away big robots and he'd taught him the spells needed to get the zords the size of action figures. " But you can grab the complete set of zords when we switch over to the Ninjazords. I am waiting to get the others when I get those morphers. Feels right."

"Makes sense."

The two lapsed into easy silence, just admiring the sunset and the quiet of the California wilderness. Jason had enjoyed this loop, as he and Kagome had fallen into a nice friendship. It was different from him and Harry, were the younger man (who was also millions of years older) had been his guide and mentor. Here Kagome and him worked with each other, with her helping him learn more about looping and him helping her with being a Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger (apparently, while she'd done fused loops with the Tommy Oliver ranger universe this one was rather different in ways and that was enough to throw her; she couldn't describe how but she could tell things were off). Kagome had learned some karate but Jason had been able to give her some good solid training that didn't involve magic or spells or illusions; just good firm body blows. Kagome had enjoyed it and taken to it right away, seeing the benefit to understanding how to fight without powers. In turn she had taught him how to unlock the natural magic that all humans possessed (and he, apparently, had more than most) and in turn taught him how to be, in her own words, "A Male Miko". A lot of people thought the two were a couple in this loop but Kagome was dedicated to her husband and Jason still hadn't met that special someone he wanted to spend his life with. With the whole of reality open to him he had time to be picky.

"Any suggestions on what I should do next?" he finally asked.

"For your next loop?" Kagome asked. When he nodded she considered carefully the options. "Remind me again of your previous loops? Rare to meet one who can do that within a few minutes."

Jason chuckled at that, though he did worry a bit about when the day came when he had more loops than there were people in Angel Grove. "Well, after my baseline I got thrown in the mad house. Then my team thought I was a spy. After that I did a fused on at Hogwarts-"

"Which house?"

"Gryffindor."

"Four of my 18 fused Hogwarts loops were Gryffindor. Nice."

"And after that I went a bunch of loops trying to keep strictly to the baseline."

Kagome scowled. "I remember that. If you had lasted 15 more I would have won the pool."

Jason's brow furrowed at that. "What exactly do you guys bet with anyway? Like you said, not like you need money… heck, I could go the next 10 loops never getting a job and still have gold left over."

The miko ranger shrugged. "It's less of betting and more like a raffle, I suppose. Harry is one of the Original Seven so when people run into massive problems or need a favor they tend to run to him, especially since he's usually the most stable of the Originals. First time's free, we've all agreed to that, but if you have been doing this for a while and need some extra help it's expected that you'll pony something up for it that can be used for a betting pool. Usually something really rare. Sometimes it's a variant… I once won a pink version of the Blue Beetle's scarab, for example. Other times it is something from a reality most of us rarely loop into for a fused loop, so their gear and goodies are rare. When we have the next big fused loop expect a lot of prizes to be passed out."

"And what was it this time?"

"Geralt of Rivia won Sophia Patrillo's famous garlic sauce recipe." Jason stared at her and Kagome thrust her arms out and made a face. "What? It's insanely good and the woman has made it clear that people can only make the recipe using her hand written notes. For some reason if you don't the sauce turns out horrible! For a lot of us… we get through the loops by finding things like that… little, wonderful, amazing secrets. It gives you something to look forward to." Jason just shook his head and chuckled, wondering why he'd expected anything else. "Anyway, your loops?"

"Right, so once I… er…"

"Got your head out of your ass?" Kagome teased. Jason had noticed that the more someone leaped the… saltier… their language became. Harry could curse in 517 different languages while Kagome, when none of the other rangers were around, would drop f-bombs right and left; she blamed it on her looping husband and his own foul mouth.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "So the next loop I decided to stick with the baseline but I was the Pink Ranger. Came up with all these excuses… was really interesting to see how things changed because of that." 

Kagome let out a whistle. "Okay, that is impressive. I kept trying to force things to go in a particular direction and it got me killed WAY too many times."

"Harry mentioned that the loops get more… malleable, for lack of a better work, the more you do them. I figured it was safer to start small before I tried anything drastic. Still, made things odd… Bulk and Skull ended up becoming good friends. Not as close as I am with the team or you and Harry but we would do charity events with each other and I helped them train for the police academy."

"The loops really do let you see the best in people. Remember that… some people can't ever get that through their heads." 

"Princess Leia?" Jason asked, remembering tales of the looping princess who still hated Darth Vader even after centuries of looping together.

"Yeah."

"After that run I thought about getting a different morpher but figured that would get boring too and I'd never get them all if I just went in a row. Better to spread it out. So I decided to go full Communist." 

Kagome snorted. "Sorry… it seems EVERYONE tries that once. I did that… god, I can't remember when, a long time ago… and when I came back to the Present I had to relearn about Chairman Miroku."

"I managed to get half the school to convert before Zordon forced me to go to the Peace Conference and gave Rocky my morpher. Of course then I got to bang my shoe against a table and insult Reagan." Jason shrugged. "And now we are here." 

"So trying out a different role, pranking your friends, and you've done two different fuse loops." Kagome smiled brightly. "Ah, you are only missing the final Rites of Initiation for our little group of anchors."

"And that is?"

Kagome got a wicked smile. "Pranking your enemies."

"Uh… is that wise?" Jason said, a bit nervous with the way Kagome was grinning like Divatox when she had cooked up a truly wicked idea (he'd returned to Angel Grove during his Pink Ranger run and after Tommy had left, thankfully, and Jason had decided to assist the new rangers, allowing him to meet the annoying space pirate; she actually had made him miss the likes of Rito).

"If this were your first loop? No. And for most people probably not with the number of loops you've had. But you are… special. Your Admin must like you. Third loop gets you one of the Original Seven when he wasn't busy so he could train you fully. And it was Harry so now you have magic. Two more loops have netted you a lot of gear and now this one got you me so I could teach you purifying magic and increase your knowledge of item merging."

Jason held up his hand and summoned a ball of purified magic, then snuffed it out before pulling out of the subspace pocket the Elder Power Sword; Harry had let him keep the Elder Wand (along with the other Hallows) and helped him fuse it with one of his Power Swords (he always worked to grabbed Saba and any Power Weapons he could once Ninjor showed up). He could feel the magic radiating through them and knew that if he took Goldar on with this the big golden gorilla would be done for in seconds.

'Can't wait to do a few more loops to ensure I have enough of the Gold Zeo Staffs,' Jason thought to himself. He'd managed to keep one during his Apathetic Loop (he honestly didn't know WHY they'd chosen him to be the Gold Ranger… they just had) and Trey had let him keep another one during his Intense Loop; the alien had been too frightened to even try and take it back from him, deciding it was easier to just head back to his planet. Also, much to Jason's surprise, he had been able to control the Gold Zeo Powers better, reasoning that the looping had strengthen his ranger powers to the point that he could handle the Gold Zeo powers with ease, or at least be used to them that they didn't cause a strain. Jason and Kagome had already decided that she would cure Trey this loop but come up with an excuse for Jason to keep the Staff, letting him have enough to experiment with; Kagome had suggested merging his Red Mighty Morphin powers with the Gold Zeo Powers to create an Ultimate Ranger or Legacy Ranger outfit.

"Face it Jason… at this point you can end half your enemies when they first show up… like we just did with Zedd. And while that is good for stress relief I recommend holding off on that until you get off a bad loop. But for your next one… why not try a bit of fun?"

Jason rubbed his chin. "Got any ideas?"

Kagome flashed him another dark grin. "We have a few years to brainstorm… I think we can come up with some good ones."

 **Loop 13**

"What is it you dolts?" Rita screamed, getting out of her rocking chair and glaring at her bumbling minions. "I was trying to conserve my energy for my next dark and evil spell!"

"But your glorious wickedfulness," Baboo exclaimed, "I thought you were taking a nap!"

The Empress of Evil whirled on him and flailed her arms about. "I am the most evil being in the cosmos! I do not 'nap'!"

"Oh yes, of course your horridness!" Squat whimpered. "We would never think that! You never nap!"

"Or snore."

"Or suck on your thumb-" 

"QUIET!" Rita screeched, the minions falling silent. "Now why did you dare interrupt me while I was trying to contemplate my next evil scheme?"

Finster cleared his throat and pointed out towards the balcony of the Moon Palace.

Rita Repulsa, the Dark Emperess of Evil… did a double take before her jaw slowly fell open.

"Is… is that a giant robot monkey?"

"Yes your highness," Goldar stated.

"And is he wearing a tie?"

Scorpina bobbed her head back and forth. "It appears so, your wickedness."

Rita slowly nodded. "And is he holding a barrel over his-"

BOOM!

"Yes," Jason said from the cockpit of the Apezord as the Donkey Kong music played. "Yes I am… or was."

 **Loop 14**

Rita had decided for once that it wasn't nearly enough to watch the rangers from her palace via her telescope. No… this required a personal touch. She wanted to be there to mock the Yellow Ranger as she watched her precious cousin Sylvia be turned into a cardboard cutout by her latest monster Pineoctopus!

'Yes, it is rather odd that Finster made a pineapple/octopus hybrid and gave it the ability to turn people into cardboard cutouts… but if it works it works! And the Rangers will never be able to save those foolish fools who get transformed by Pineoctopus' dust! Where would they ever find water… wait.' Rita looked around and suddenly remembered that Angel Grove was not only a short drive from an ocean but even had a lake within city limits. '…I'll blame Goldar for this when it fails. That always works!'

Stalking out of the palace Rita retrieved her favorite mode of transportation, the most evil and vile creation ever made! While her father had his giant floating head ship thing and the Machine Empire had their war fleet only Rita had…

…and old timey bicycle!

(Cue horses whinnies and thunder)

Mounting the seat Rita began to pedal and soon she was happily (and evilly) flying down to Earth, ready to find the rangers and taunt and mock them for their failure. 'Oh, how the tears of the Yellow Ranger will taste so sweet as they fall upon her cousin's transformed body! Hahahaha!' Rita paused mid pedal. "Wait… are human tears made of water or acid? I can't remember… oh well, as long as they cry! Hahahaha!"

The only problem was though that as she floated about Angel Grove… she couldn't find the Rangers. No goodie goodies helping pick up litter or teaching blind people how to roller skate or creating free renewable energy. Nothing! Not a single sign of those meddling kids. Rita let out a huff, looking about in annoyance. Didn't they know they were supposed to be out in the open, ready for their mocking by their future ruler? It was very rude not to cower when their Dark Empress showed up! She would make them pay for not having the common decency to show up for their mocking!

Just… as soon as she found them.

"I will check all the places a young, meddling group of teenagers would go! One of their hip, fun places!"

"Ha!" a distant voiced laughed.

"Who said that?" Rita exclaimed, looking about. "Who said that… show yourself! How dare you mock me! I am Rita…" But seeing no one was around Rita's tension leaked away. "Well then… to the hip, fun places."

"Ha!" the voice laughed again.

"What… I… I know what hip! What's cool!" 

"Ha!"

"I'll show you!" Rita exclaimed defiantly!

~6 Minutes Later~

"I have you now, Rangers!" Rita exclaimed, bursting into the sewage treatment plant. "Come on out!"

~8 Minutes Later~

"I know you are here!" Rita exclaimed as she looked about Angel Grove's Button Museum.

~10 Minutes Later~

"Come on…" Rita grumbled as she kicked at another pile of dirty diapers at the Angel Grove Land Fill. "Maybe you are in… here!" She blasted an overturned bathtube only to reveal a family of feral raccoons. "AAAAAA!" She screamed as the raccoons attacked.

~15 Minutes Later~

"Stupid Rangers… stupid raccoons," Rita mumbled as she biked over an alleyway, her clothing torn, her face scratched up, and garbage staining her dress. "Only thing worse would be if there were Raccoon Rangers!" The Empress of Evil continued to stew in her hatred (which, frankly, was rather common for her) until she noticed something odd: a sign with her name on it. "What is this?"

Landing her back in the alley she found a wooden sign on a post that read SECRET TO DESTROYING THE RANGERS THIS WAY! PS: DON'T TELL RITA!

"Fools!" Rita cackled. "I have been told and now I will find the secret to destroying Zordon's precious rangers! Hahahaha!" She patted the sign. "Well done my new Number One General!"

The sign just sat that, not reacting to its promotion.

(The raccoons may or may not have been diseased and their bites may or may not have addled Rita's brain)

Rita stared down at the ground, noticing that a few steps away there was an arrow painted in white paint on the asphalt. Following where it pointed to led to another sign. And then another. And another! Rita cackled in delight as she followed the trail, fantasies of destroying the goodie goodie rangers dancing in her head as she followed the trail-

"Hey, did someone cover up the sun?" Rita asked, finally looking around and realizing she'd walked onto a wooden lid that was right under a box that was only propped up with a stick with a bit of string tied to it.

There was a yank and the box fell down on her.

"What?!" Rita screamed even as Jason raced over and turned the box over before producing some nails and a hammer from his subspace pocket, quickly hammering the lid on tight. "Let me out… let me out of here! I will destroy you!"

"Sorry, did you say keep you in there and shake the box hard?" Jason called out before grabbing the wooden crate and gyrating it hard.

"OW OW OW!" Rita cried out. "Ugh… I have such a headache!"

~A Day Later~ 

"And that's how I defeated Rita!" Jason said proudly. He'd gathered up his friends in the Command Center and asked them to sit on the ground around the laz-e-boy recliner he'd brought in, listening to his epic tale of bravery.

'Well, brave to me.'

"That… seems highly unlikely," Kim said.

"I agree," Zack said.

"Finding it hard to imagine," Trini added. 

Billy, so utterly flustered, could only say, "Bullshit!"

"Believe it, guys! Rita is defeated!" Jason leaned back in his chair. "Greatest Ranger Ever. Suck it Tommy."

"Who?" Alpha asked.

Zordon cleared his throat. "While I know it is hard to believe, Rangers, I no longer detect Rita's evil influence on the moon or on this planet. Jason has managed to do what I and other Ranger teams could never accomplish: He has defeated Rita Repulsa and ensured she will never harm another innocent being again."

"…with a crate?!" Zack exclaimed.

"Yup!" Jason said with a grin. "Turns out she's weak to'em." 'Of course it helps I used every bit of binding magic Kagome taught me to turn that crate into a demon trap.'

"Aiaiai! Why didn't we think of that?" Alpha asked and Jason snorted when Zordon flashed the robot a dirty look.

"There is something I don't get," Kim said, face scrunched up.

"You mean all of it?" Trini asked.

"Where did Rita go after you put her in a box?"

Jason just smiled. "She's being handled by top men." 

"Who?" Billy asked.

Jason leaned forward. "Top… men."

~Location: Classified~

"Let me out! Let me out!" Rita weakly cried, the workers ignoring her as they slowly pushed her crate into the warehouse… filled with other crates, stacked to the ceiling and stretching out as far as the eye could see.

 **Loop 15**

The lid to Rita's dumpster popped open and the witch stuck her head out. "Ah, after-"

And then she promptly burst into flames.

The heat and radiation sent every part of her alight and her legs thrashed and kicked as she was immolated. Had she been human she'd have been dead in seconds but due to her otherworldly nature she survived… but only for a little bit longer.

Goldar, Baboo, Squatt, and Finster all noticed their Queen thrashing about and pushed to get out to save her… only serving to send their mistress into the great eternal blaze. Then they two were burning, unable to take a moment to scream as their bodies were burned so quickly and with so much heat that they were reduced to plasma.

And as the enchanted dumpster began to fall into the sun Jason Scott, sitting on the Red Thunder Dragonzord's nose with a bubblehead charm and cooling charms in place, along with some anti-radiation shielding spells, watched on before taking out a stick with a marshmallow and poking it out to get toasted.

 **Loop 16**

"He's just too powerful!" Tommy exclaimed, clutching his chest where Goldar had struck him. Around him Kim, Zack, Billy, and Trini were lying, groaning and moaning as they recovered from the assault the golden warrior had just delivered them. Deep gouges had been cut in the grass of Angel Grove Park and the cries of the public, though faint, could still be heard. Though the loudest sound was Goldar's laughter as he approached the rangers with a squad of putties.

"Yes! Yes! You will all fall before my might!" Goldar taunted. "I think that is the perfect place for all of you… cowered at my fear!" He raised his sword and laughed again. "Now… which should be the first?"

"Where… where is Jason?" Zack moaned, rolling onto his back. "We need him…" 

"He'll be here, guys!" Kim said desperately. "He won't let us down!"

"Let your Red Ranger come!" Goldar mocked. "He will fall like the rest of you! Fall before the might of Rita Repulsa! Fall before-"

"Candygram for Goldar!"

The golden warrior, the putties, and the rangers all froze and, as one, turned and watched in shock as Jason, dressed in a spiffy black uniform complete with polished shoes and a stylish black cap walked up to them, his walk crisp and clean. Tucked under his arm was a box and in his other hand was a clipboard. He looked at the scene before him for only a moment before nodding and marching over to the monsterous warrior, showing no sign of fear and with a big smile on his face. For his part Goldar was confused but the other rangers suddenly realized that with Jason not in his normal ranger outfit their foe had no idea who he was.

"Candygram for Goldar!" Jason said, his voice a higher pitch than normal, coming out with a comedic squeak. "Candygram for Goldar!"

The beastial monster warrior looked at Jason before tapping his chest. "I'm Goldar!"

"Sign please!" Jason said, thrusting the clipboard towards Goldar. The monster, after a moment, took the pen and signed, the Rangers all staring at each other (and Tommy even shrugging when a Putty looked to him for answers). Jason snatched back the completed form and pushed the box into Goldar's hands. "Thank you!" Jason began to march off, his steps huge and exaggerated, getting about 10 steps away before he put his fingers to his ears.

"Mmm… I love candy!" Goldar declared, opening the box.

BOOM!

The rangers would later swear they heard the Looney Tunes Theme play just before Goldar was destroyed.

 **Loop 17**

King Mondo looked down at Earth, disgust filling his circuits. "I say, my dear queen… these Rangers are proving a far more bothersome group of foes than I expected! It is still, of course, hardly a problem for one such as I but it is enough to become a short in the grand circuitry of my plan!"

Fanning herself, Queen Machina shook her head. "Far be it for me to give a single kind word to that worthless sack of meat but perhaps it wasn't entirely Rita's fault that she continually and utterly failed to defeat the rangers." 

"Now now, my dear, no need to go to an extreme! Rita and Zedd were worthless cretins not fit to spit shine one of your metal boots, let alone capable of controlling an empire such as ours! We must not forget that we are still the Machine Empire and the Royal House of Gadgetry will continue to march on." He looked down at the Earth once more, his gears spinning in frustration. "That said… there must be a way to deal with those meddlesome Rangers!"

"My liege, I believe I have the answer!" Klank called out, hurrying over to his king, several Cogs dragging a cart with an Earth Computer upon it. "Have you ever heard the old Earlthing saying "Knowledge is power"?"

"No but I have heard, "Klank, get to the point!". It is a rather good one." 

Sprocket snorted at that. "Yeah, get to the point!"

"Yes, well, I found one of these primitive Earth machines and begin to investigate it." 

Mondo looked at the machine in disgust. "And what use would such a pathetic waste of metal and circuits be to me? I dare say my exhaust port is more complex than this!"

"Dear!" Machina gasped, covering Sprocket's ears. "Language!"

"A thousand pardons, my dear." He turned back to Klank. "Well?"

"Primitive, yes, but so are the Earthlings and I believed that the answer might be found not through our databases but one of their's! And low and behold… it worked!" Turning on the machine Klank opened up something called 'Electronic Mail' and pulled up a message. "See here? Another foe of the Rangers has offered us the secrets to defeat them!"

"Let me see that!" Mondo demanded, shoving Klank out of the way and staring at the screen. "Hmmm… yes… according to this message a 'Nigerian Prince' is willing to help us and all I need to do is open a direct line of communication to him. Well, as a fellow member of royalty I would be more than happy to converse with him." Pulling a cord out from the computer Mondo attached it to his own head and then hit the link.

He instantly began to sputter and spark, letting out shrill whistles.

"My love, what is wrong?" Machina asked, running over to him.

"Daddy?" Sprocket asked.

As suddenly as it started it ended and Mondo let out a cough before turning to his wife. "You have won the Dark Specter Clearing House Sweepstakes!" 

"I…I have?" Machina exclaimed, not noticing that Mondo's voice had changed to sound more like a used car salesman's. "Oh, how do I claim my prize!"

"Simply connect to me and open the link I send!"

"Of course, my love!" Machina exclaimed… and in seconds she was shaking and sparking to before she suddenly stopped and turned to Klank, purring softly as she whispered in a breathless tone, "Would you like to bang a ton of robot sluts right now? It's easy… we just need you to provide your credit card number."

Klank and Orbus shared a look. "Well, that isn't unreasonable…"

More sparking and shaking.

"Prince Sprocket!" Klank declared, Mondo and Machina wandering about now talking to random Cogs. "You won't believe this video!"

"What video?"

"You need to link up to find out!"

"Okay!"

~Down On Earth~

"Hey Jason, you never did tell me what you needed with my computer," Billy said, walking up to the Red Ranger who was currently outside fiddling with a telescope.

Jason smiled as he glanced back at his friend. In this loop they'd managed to handle Zedd easily (thanks to Jason nudging certain events to get the best outcomes), meaning that Zordon never needed to create the White Ranger, thus keeping the Rangers at 5 when Tommy finally lost his powers. Feeling bad for his friend though and wanting to skip the Peace Conference this loop, Jason had quietly suggested that Tommy try out for it and, casting a few Notice-Me spells on his friend's entry forms, had gotten Tommy, Kimberly, and Zack selected to go. He knew that Zack, out of the three of the original rangers to go, had loved the conference the most and as such wanted to ensure that Zack got his chance. Besides, Adam had LOVED being a ranger and last Jason had heard he'd gathered up a team of old Rangers to assist that Overdrive Team (who did not get invited to the Ranger-Only chat rooms and reunions); it would have been wrong to rob him of that chance. Rocky hadn't become a ranger but did become a trusted ally and friend and ended up assisting Alpha in the Command Center; Aisha had started but eventually moved on. For Pink Ranger Jason had gotten that already set up, having Apparated to Australia and saved Kat before Rita could get her claws in her (no pun intended), meaning that she become the Pink Ranger a bit early.

That meant that He, Trini, and Billy had gone through all the power changes and new zords. Ninja powers, the Alien Rangers (though he had nipped the 'turning into kids' thing in the bud, as he had no urge to relieve his youth and thus that just became a massive team up), and then Zeo. The team had stayed together and Billy had remained the Blue Ranger, much to Jason's delight. He knew it had hurt his friend to give up the power and be sidelined and in this loop at least Billy had stayed on and been a true asset. He and Adam were best friends and Billy had finally worked up the nerve to ask Kat out; the two had been dating now for a year and were thinking about moving in together.

As for Tommy he had been Jason's choice (as Jason was now Zeo Red, adding another morpher to his collection and he had serious plans for the Zeo Crystal) to take on the mantle of the Gold Ranger, something Tommy had happily accepted. Kim and him had moved back to Angel Grove a few weeks ago, with Kim buying a share of Ernie's from Lt. Stone. Things had been going great in this loop, to the point that Jason had decided he wouldn't pull any pranks and just enjoy it. Kat and Billy were happy, Tommy was back with Kim, he and Kat had a brother/sister relationship (as she had never told anyone it had been Jason that saved her), Trini was having a long distance relationship with Zack, and Adam had slotted in well with the rest of them.

And then Tommy had confessed to Jason last week that he was planning to ask Kim to marry him and, if she said yes, he wanted Jason to be his best man.

Jason had laughed, hugged the man he considered his brother… and then instantly decided that, as best man, it was his duty to ensure nothing ruined the wedding.

"Sorry Billy," Jason said with a smirk as he watched the Machine Empire explode as his malware and viruses infected them all. "My computer came down with a bug. I'll bring yours back tomorrow."

"Do you need me to look at it?" Billy asked.

"Nah, it's done. No big deal." Jason stepped away from the telescope and wrapped his arm around Billy. "So, we need to talk about Tommy's bachelor party… think you can rig something up so Zordon can be there in a little mobile tube…"

 **Loop 18**

Rita froze, her face deathly pale. She didn't know why… she didn't understand the feeling of dread that came over her… but in that moment she'd never been so scared in her life.

"SKREEEEE!" the five brightly colored spandex wearing creatures hissed before attacking her.

"…Jason, why did you give our morphers to raccoons?" Kimberly asked.

~M~L~P~R~

Author's Notes: So here we have our first fused loop where Jason's reality is the base. I chose Kagome because I actually did some Inuyasha stuff YEARS ago so it's a bit of a nod to that.

So here we see playing around a bit and exploring fandoms the official looping stuff (and yes, I am still saying I am unofficial… unless someone who is an official moderator for the original stories decides to include my stuff I am like the Dragon Ball Z movies… I'm basically Broly without a Dragon Ball Super movie) hasn't gotten to yet. Here I introduce two looping worlds not mentioned before: the world of The Witcher (with Geralt as the Anchor) and The Golden Girls (with Dorothy as the Anchor). The Witcher only recently began looping where its loopers could fuse into other worlds… because of Ciri. It was feared she would become a target for MLEs or ascend herself. However, it was found her travel abilities only work within whatever reality she is in… she can't jump from, say, Middle Earth to Cybertron. So they were finally allowed to loop. The Golden Girls is seen as a possible secondary Sanctuary Loop… or a punishment loop. It depends on if Blanche is interested in you, honestly… and if you enjoy St. Olaf stories.

I've only read some of the Inuyasha loops but considering in the finale of the actual series Kagome and Inuyasha got together I don't think it a stretch that they got married.

So a lot of people forget that Jason was actually being killed by the Gold Ranger powers. But I really do love that costume and want Jason to have access to those powers. So I included my own way of Jason being able to have them and not, you know, die: his looping, combined with him increasing both his exposure to powers AND holding greater power, has allowed his body to adapt to handle the Gold Ranger powers. My personal head canon is that had Jason gotten the Gold Staff sooner he could have managed the powers better. Basically, we know that Triforians had the final piece of the Zeo Crystal and this was used to power the staff. And the Zeo Crystals only get stronger. Jason just was unlucky and got the powers too late… they had grown too powerful and his body couldn't adapt in time. Now? No such problem.

Also… Goldar just pawn… in game of life.

Operation Overdrive, for me, is so bad its good territory, in it makes for easy targets. I will be making fun of a lot of ranger stuff but yeah… expect those guys to take a bit of a beating this fic.

For those interested here is what Jason has, powers wise: His main Red Power Coin (from the Harry Potter loop) and several duplicates. Several Gold Zeo Power staffs. Several Red Ninja coins. Pink Power Coin. Red Zeo Crystal. Several versions of the Tyrannosaurus zord, the Thunder Dragon Zord, the Ape Zord, and various other zords (He collects them like candy). One Dragon Dagger, his original wand, all three deathly hallows (with the cloak able to merge with his suit if he is wearing it and Harry having merged the Power Sword and the Elder Wand together), a TON of extra wands, a TON of magical gear from his time with Harry, and other small bits and pieces from his time as a Ranger.

The most important items are his Main Red Power Coin, his Main Gold Ranger Staff, the Elder Wand, his zords, and now the Zeo Crystal. He will continue to add more powers… but the big one will be MERGING powers. Something we know is possible, thanks to a certain evil Ranger from Boom!. He's already had Harry merge the Elder Wand with his Power Sword (he still has his normal wand) but Jason is going to increase his power more with merging.


	5. Chapter 5

**Loop 19**

"The Red Ranger has failed, your highness!" Goldar proclaimed, marching into Rita's lair with his sword in hand. "He managed to escape and at one point almost succeeded in taking the Green Candle but in the end I came through and showed him just how small and pathetic he truly is!"

The Empress of Evil looked at Goldar and cackled in delight. "Very well done, Goldar, very well done! I knew you would be more than a match for that foolish Red Ranger! Your cunning and strength speak well of you!"

"That's not what you said five minutes ago!" Squat stated. "You said Goldar was so stupid that if you said it was chilly outside he'd run and get a bowl!"

Baboo nodded. "And you then said he was so ugly they push his face into dough to make Lothar cookies!"

Finster chimed in. "Then I believe you stated that his mama was so fat-"

"Enough!" Rita bellowed, the two minions whimpering and cowering and Finster hurrying back to his lab. "It matters not what I said then but what I say now! And I say I always had faith in Goldar!"

"Thank you, your highness!" Goldar said, presenting her with the candle. "The Red Ranger only managed to point his sword at it and mumble a few words… I believe he was trying to destroy it, the fool! But Zordon's power was weak and in the end did nothing to aid him!"

"Very good, Goldar, very good!" Rita took the candle and grinned. "I had thought about letting the candle burn out but I think now I will just blow it out completely and watch that traitor Tommy suffer! Hahahaha!" With that Rita took a big breath and blew on the flickering flame of the Green Candle, snuffing out the flame. "Goodbye Green Ranger!" She taunted, her minions offering their own mock goodbyes.

And then the Green Candle relit itself.

"What? No… that… that isn't possible." Rita blow on the wick again and the flame went out… before poofing right back up. "No!"

"Let me try!" Goldar said, yanking the candle out of her hands and blowing. But no matter how hard he huffed and puffed he couldn't diminish the flame.

"Oh stop that, you be buffoon, no one wants to smell your breath!"

"Ugh, when did you brush your teeth last?" Baboo complained, waving his hand in front of his nose.

"Last year!" Goldar said proudly.

"The rest of you, help me out!" Rita commanded. Squat, Baboo, and Finster all began taking turns trying to blow out the flame.

And that was how Tommy's powers were saved by a novelty trick candle.

 **Loop 20**

Jason had been warned about these kinds of loops.

Both Kagome and Harry had him told that as one began to loop more and more variations would begin to pop up along with one Awakening at odd points. So far Jason had been Awake at roughly the same time and that continued on from there but this was the first Non-Fused Loop where reality had decided to do some reshuffling. He'd done a ping, as he always did, to make sure this wasn't a fused loop and gotten nothing back, meaning that for some reason his life in this reality had gotten… wonky.

First off the world seemed… grainier. Like everything had a weird filter on it that made it look not as crisp and clear as reality should be. The light was off, too bright in some places and darker in others. It also felt cheaper, with everything from the chairs to his clothes looking like they were hand-me-downs. Even Kim's outfit looked like she had gotten it from a Goodwill rather than at one of her favorite stores. The whole thing made him feel awkward and unsure of himself, like he had slipped into another body that was almost like his own but not quite.

"Jason, you're up!" someone said, Jason didn't know who, as he was more focused on the fact that he was in a bowling alley rather than Ernie's. He'd casually mentioned it to Kim that he was surprised they were there and she'd given him an odd look before laughing and saying that they always hung out at the bowling alley and "who'd want to hang out at some rec center juice bar?". Then she'd called him a big idiot and walked away, making Jason realize that in this loop Kimberly was a bi… not a nice person.

After he threw his strike (and he didn't know why his muscle memory demanded he wave the ball around like he was channeling mystical energy) he took a step back and bobbed his head to the music. 'Red Hot Chili Peppers… at least the music here is good.'

Zack was Zack, though a bit more brash than he was used to, interrupting every conversation he could in order to let the whole world know he had arrived. His friend liked to have fun and be the center of attention but wasn't THAT bad.

Jason glanced over at Billy. He was his normal self, or at least normal for the beginning of a loop, acting like he was a robot that had been programmed to pretend to be human but not QUITE getting how to do it properly. He was explaining to Trini how to properly bowl a strike.

…and Trini was a Hispanic woman with super short hair who was at least five years older than all of them even though Jason knew they were all in the same grade.

Shaking his head he prepared to throw another strike only for Zack to run up and, of all things, tickle his butt. 'Geez, first Tommy and now Zack?' Jason thought as his ball went into the gutter. Out loud he said, "Hey man, I had a perfect game going!" Zack just laughed and Jason, annoyed, slugged him lightly in the stomach only to then wonder why his first thought was to hit his friend. Zack though seemed used to this and just gave him a hand shake.

"Excuse me!" Kimberly whined, making everyone in the entire bowling alley shut up and pay attention to her. "Trying to throw a strike here." 

Jason just watched as Kim swung her arm back… and then sent the bowling hurtling backwards and crashing into a table. He had begun to step forward to help whoever was hurt but the only damage done was that a chili dog had exploded like they were in a lame 90s sitcom and splattered a reject from The Outsiders with sauce. Kim, rather than acknowledge that she had almost hurt people and covered someone in food, just looked down at her hand and stomped her foot like a petulant child. "Oooo! I broke a nail!"

Jason just shook his head. '…okay, going to tell Harry that whoever guessed 20 loops for me to break my 'No Cursing Rule' is the winner of that betting pool. God, what a bitch!'

It only got worse as the Outsider Reject and what looked like Bulk's hillbilly inbred cousin stormed up and demanded Kim pay for the clothing she'd destroyed. Jason had been ready to step in only for Kim to just give the guy a sneer… and then Ponyboy to try and kiss Kim right in front of everyone even when she told him to back off. That led to some random blonde who looked like Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love had been fused together to jump in while Zack and vest-wearing punk who looked to be 35 to got in a shoving match.

'Dear lord it's the loop where everyone is an asshole!' Jason thought as Ponyboy began to grope Not-Trini only for her to beat the crap out of him without even shifting her stance. 'And Not-Trini is a badass!'

Zack bounced up and down like a toddler on a sugar high. "Want me to handle this Jay? Want me to take'em out?"

'What am I, a mafia don?' Jason thought before just rolling his eyes. "Yeah, take'em out."

Zack decided the way to do that… was to dance before doing a kick that failed to hit Inbred Bulk or 35 Year Teen yet somehow sent them flying to the ground. Jason glanced over, watching as Cobain-Love was trying to rip Kim's hair out while Not-Trini was just utterly destroying Ponyboy, beating him 5 ways to Sunday. Billy… was sitting in his chair.

Realizing that he needed to do something before this got out of hand Jason tagged in. It was only a second too late that he remembered he was still holding the bowling ball and had to check his moves until he could safely drop it. Getting the 35 Year Old down he spun Inbred Bulk around and kicked him in the butt… and then just to prove that this world made no sense the bully went sliding all the way down the lane and knocked over all the pins.

Billy began to randomly call out sports terms as Not-Trini, who at this point Jason believed was just screwing with Ponyboy and toying with him, and Kim, who was one kiddie pool filled with mud away from a Vegas show instead of a fight, dealt with their 'opponents'. Meanwhile everyone was cheering them on even though they had broken at least 5 different laws.

Jason was about ready to ask what everyone's problem was when the news suddenly broke in… revealing that astronauts were about to open up a certain dumpster…

'Aw crap,' Jason thought, watching as the TV actually SHOWED Rita being released. He'd only seen it via Zordon's viewing globe and it was very odd to be standing in a bowling alley with the general public and seeing it happen. 'First off, why do we call that a trash dumpster? Two, if it smells funny why would you be excited to open it? Three, are these really the best we have? At this point I could run NASADA better… hmmm… mental note, take control of NASADA, pocket the shuttle so I have part of the Astro Megazord. Would also be nicer than using the Thunder Dragon Zord to go into space.'

And Rita began to speak.

'Okay, rapists and Bitch Kim set aside… this Rita sounds nicer than the baseline one.' Jason tilted his head, finding it odd that Rita, if she dialed back the screeches, actually came off as sounding like a normal person. One who wanted to take over the earth but still. And one who fired lasers at the world causing untold damage…

"Great, just what we needed, an earthquake!" Kim whined.

"…shut up, Kim," Jason said.

"What was-"

Before Kim could finish they five of them were 'teleported'. But rather than mystical light and energy taking Jason from one spot to another he was stretched like taffy and then tossed onto the floor.

He reacted calmly to this change.

"AAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAA!"

Calmly.

"Jason, call down man, stop being a wuss!" Zack complained, proving he was also a bitch in this universe. "What is…"

The five of them looked around and for the first time in 500 years (give or take, he'd lost count) Jason was just as startled as his, ahem, "friends" to see the Command Center. It looked like a neon rollerskating rink while Alpha, while sounding the same, looked like a toy someone would get at a cheap carnival that didn't have the licensing rights to do the actual likeness. His head was in the basic shape and his body was close to being right… but Alpha just looked wrong. It would have actually been better if he had been completely different… less off-putting than seeing the robot like this.

"Welcome hu-mans."

'Speaking of off-putting', Jason though as he stared up at his mentor. Or, at the very least, his mentor's cousin who had taken a few baseball bat shots to the face and then treated by a doctor who'd gotten his degree from an online college. Where before Zordon had looked like a big blue head that became fuzzy as the edges this one looked like a poorly rendered computer graphic that would have been outdated in the 90s. Realizing he needed to say something before Not-Trini decided to beat up Zordon because she was itching for another fight, Jason said, "Who is that?"

"What is that?" Kim sneered.

"Shut up, Kim!" Jason said again.

"That is Zoltar!"

'…okay, Zordon's cousin theory seems correct.'

After Alpha explained just who Zoltar was (and for Zack to claim he was a Ninja Turtle…and Jason had to resist the urge to tell him that those were in fact real and one of them oddly had boobs, according to TJ) it was time for the Big Giant Head to give his speech just after Kimberly complained about not understanding what he was saying.

"It is quite simple, my dear. The planet is under attack and I have brought you here to save it," Zoltar informed them with a smile (or a frown… it was really hard to tell).

"Yeah right," Zack complained.

"Ah, an unbeliever. Behold!" Rather than the viewing globe Zoltar made a screen appear in the air beside him. "This is Rita Repulsa, an alien bent on controlling the universe. And she decided to begin… with Earth."

"If she's so dangerous why don't you fight her?" Billy asked.

"Because he's in a time warp, Billy!" Jason snapped, rapidly growing to hate his friends more and more. He'd thought maybe he could focus on being best friends with Billy, seeing as Zack was a jackass, Kimberly was a bitch, and Not-Trini would probably kill him or make him her pet that she forced to serve her every evil whim, but Billy was just as stupid as the rest of them!

"I know this is scary but what does this have to do with us?" Not-Trini asked (and when she glanced at him Jason feared she'd read his thoughts about her and was ready to attack him like one of those Jurassic Park raptors).

"You have been chosen to form an elite team to battle Rita. As teenagers the future of the planet is yours and you've been called upon to defend it."

'I'd say that was a piss poor excuse but it was better than what Zordon gave us,' Jason thought. 'Point Zoltar.'

But just like last time his friends didn't want to stay (though Not-Trini seemed a touch interested) and Jason fought the urge not to smack Bitch-Kim as she actually had the nerve to GRAB HIS ARM AND DRAG HIM AWAY EVEN AS HE TRIED TO ASK ZOLTAR SOMETHING.

He HATED these people!

"Let go of me!" Jason snarled, ripping his arm away from her. "Seriously, I wanted to hear more of that!"

"Come on, tell me you didn't buy that!" Kim complained.

"…he teleported us half way from a bowling alley to a canyon! I don't think it's a trick! So SHUT UP KIM!" Jason roared, getting in her face. "Seriously, what does it take for you to believe? Evil minions to fall from the sky?"

He looked up.

"Are… are you actually waiting for that to happen?" Zack asked.

"Kind of, ya," Jason said right before the putties burst out of the ground because in this loop the entire world was set up to spite him.

"Help!" Kim cried out as two putties grabbed her.

"We have to do something!" Billy said as the rest of his "friends" gathered around him.

In his driest voice Jason blandly said, "Help. Police. Murder." He then stood back and let the putties beat up his friends because, at this point, Jason was ready to just let Rita win. Zack went down fast, Billy was useless, and Kim was next though sadly wasn't destroyed. Not-Trini actually put up a good fight but at this point Jason was running on the theory she was actually Dark Specter's boss or something and she decided to throw the fight to keep her cover from being blown. That left Jason to fight the putties… who oddly clanked when he struck them despite being made of, well, putty, and he had to remind himself to check his blows and keep his moves down to a bare minimum. With all his looping and the number of times he'd been joined to the morphing grid he didn't even need a morpher to feel the strength and power in him anymore and at this point his base level was on par with what it had been during what Tommy had referred to as the Forever Red Event…while morphed. He wasn't going to get knocked down this time, mostly because he didn't feel like getting close enough for Not-Trini to put him in a Full Nelson.

"What do we do now?" Zack asked.

"What about asking for help?" Kim asked.

And then, to Jason's shock… his "friends" actually began screaming for help.

The putties and Jason both turned and stared at them.

"Okay, can we work out some kind of deal where you just kill them and let me pass?" Jason whispered to the putty.

"Blubblublub"

"Oh don't give me that! That is an amazing deal!"

"Blublub." 

"Fine!" Jason said, calling out his morpher and turning to his "friends". "Just morph already! Gah!" He rubbed his temples. "Jeez, this day is wearing me down!"

"Pteredacyl," Kim said.

"Saber Tooth Tiger!" Not-Trini said with a bit more force.

"Masterdon!" Zack declared.

"Triceratops?" Billy said, sounding a bit unsure.

"Tyran-yawn-asaurs," Jason declared, just wanting this over.

This was going to be a LONG loop.

 **Loop 21**

When Jason Awoke he found himself now at the time just before he'd been given the Gold Zeo Power. He wasn't disappointed he'd missed so much as, frankly, anything after the last loop was a vacation. Harry had warned him never to abort a loop (aka kill himself or try and destroy everything) as the result was being sent to a fused loop where all the women had breasts far larger than they should have been. He… didn't quite understand why that was a BAD thing but Harry had just told him that it was and from the way he got a thousand-mile stare Jason believed him. But for the first time he'd been sorely tempted… especially after Tommy was revealed to be a facepaint wearing goth kid and Jason had become even more convinced Not-Trini was Satan herself come to murder all after she'd actually cackled at the idea of a 'peace' conference.

So finding himself in the desert during his vacation right before Tommy came to pick him up was a godsend.

'In fact…' Jason thought, rubbing his chin.

~A Few Hours Later~

Jason looked at the Gold Zeo Suit, smiling under his helmet. While his original morpher and suit would always remain his favorite and the one he forever fell back on the Gold Zeo Suit felt more and more right each time he got to wear it. The first time it had been clear he was just borrowing it, the power accepting him like a dog would accept he was staying with a sitter. But he wasn't its master. And as it'd slowly killed him he'd known he could never keep them. Now though? With the constant looping bathing his soul or essence or whatever one wanted to call it with energy from the morphing grid he could handle suits that would have overwhelmed him in the baseline.

Even the Treys sensed it. "Amazing… it is as if you are from Triforia yourself!" the trinity alien turned to the other rangers. "Normally such a process is risky, as this power was never meant for a human, but your friend wields it better than even I! I know that now the world is safe with you holding this power, Jason Soctt-where did he go?"

Tommy looked around. "Hey, where did Jason go?"

"Aiaiai!" Alpha declared. "He's gone! And so is Billy!"

"Zordon?" Kat asked.

"I… I can not sense him!" The mentor of the rangers screwed up his face. "This makes no sense, my rangers! It is as if the morphing grid itself is hiding him from us!" Alarms went off as one of the Machine Empire's monsters attacked. "But that does not matter! We must deal with this new threat!"

Tommy nodded glumly. "I just hope Jason is okay. And Billy too."

~Off the Pacific Coast~ 

"When did you get a yacht?" Billy asked as Jason showed him around the S.S. Athena.

"Oh, during my off time," Jason said, not about to admit that he'd stolen the yacht turning his Communist Loop, liberating it from the 'capitalist pig dogs'. He'd spent a couple loops painting it red and white and outfitting it with all sorts of gear both new and old. Gaming systems that wouldn't be out for several years, movies that were sequels to films not even released yet, vintage pinball machines, the works. Kagome would probably be pissed as she always complained that Jason was able to store far more in his subpocket than her, an Anchor that had been doing this for several million loops, but it wasn't his fault she sucked at transfiguring stuff into action figures!

Billy grabbed a drink and cracked it open. "So you sent messages to the rest of the gang?"

"Yeah. We'll pick up Zack and Trini in a few days and once we get through the Panama Canal we'll grab Kim in Spain. She'll be done with the Pan Olympic tour by then. I'm thinking before that though you and I can do some fishing and figure out where we want to stop on our world tour." He paused and grabbed his own drink. "You sure Zordon can't track us?"

"Positive. When you texted me your idea I used my time studying Trey's staff to make it a kind of barrier against all tracking, both Zordon and anyone from the moon. We are completely hidden. All of us will just need to stay within range of you… 10 square miles roughly." 

"Good thing we're all friends," Jason said.

"Thank you for inviting me," Billy said. "I… I needed the break."

"They should have made you a Ranger before Tonya, man. She hasn't even been a ranger before that. That was a dick move so I say Tommy can handle things now. He always wanted to be lead cowboy… screw'em and let him deal with the madness." Billy toasted to that and Jason reached out and clasped his arm. "Besides… you, Kim, Zack, especially Trini… I've missed all of you. Feels like a lifetime since I last saw you guys and all I want to do now is spend some time with my best friends!" With that Jason went to the wheelhouse. "Now then, we got 4 rooms but that will be fine because Zack and Trini are going to share…"

 **Loop 22**

Jason was trying to decide if he was being punished or rewarded for blowing off his responsibilities the last loop.

Yes, he had basically convinced Billy, Zack, Trini, and Kim to blow off their responsibilities and spend a year or so partying on his yacht. Yes, said year had turned into a decade or so. Yes, he had mentioned a few things to Billy about smartphones and basically had him create one several years prior to their baseline creation and thus made them billionaires when they sold the patent. And yes, he had used that money to convince his friends to spend the rest of their days traveling the world on the newly renamed SS WOOO PARTY! boat. But it wasn't like they had snorted coke and hung out with hookers on a daily basis. It had mostly been creating great music with Jason's sound studio setup, visiting exotic locations, and having a clean, safe party at every dock. While they had admittedly ignored every major issue that came up they hadn't been reckless. No one got hurt, nothing illegal happened, and Jason managed to shrink the boat down 3 days before he entered this new loop.

He supposed it depended if the Admin was angry or not. He still hadn't met her; he only knew that she was called The Mystic Mother and that was only because Kagome met her briefly. His friend had broken down laughing though over the meeting and told Jason he would get her giggles when he finally met the admin.

Still, he wasn't for sure if he were being punished or not. He was clearly in a fused loop, he could tell that from the fact that his bedroom was completely different from what he was used too. Everything was brighter and more colorful and there was a sense of vibrancy that he didn't usually find when he first woke up. He'd mentioned it to Kagome once and she claimed it was because with some realities Yggdrasil had to compress the 'files' of that world and didn't have the tech to make everything as crystal clear and shiny while in other realities, like her own, things could become washed out and there would be odd little errors at the beginning that came from the same issues. Some joked that Yggdrasil had been using VHS tapes back them but Jason had merely decided not to think about it.

He knew he shouldn't be too fearful of this loop, as both Harry and Kagome had told horror stories of waking up in war zones or in realities where life was a never ending struggle for survival. Ending up in a bedroom that looked to be set in a tiny little village in the country wasn't that bad at all.

Even if it did mean he was 11 years old again, judging by his youthful body.

"Jason! Jason Ketchum you get up right this minute! You don't want to be late to see Professor Oak!" a woman, who Jason assumed must be his mother, called out. Raising an eyebrow at that Jason quickly began to change, long since used to needing to quickly get ready for school after a night of training and dealing with monsters. He didn't know who this 'Professor Oak' was but he had a feeling he'd get his answers about this reality soon enough.

~10 Minutes Later~

"Wow, you got here quick!" a taller kid with spiky brown hair called out over the cheers of the crowd. "You forgot to Ping though and let us know you were here."

"Sorry about that," Jason said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm relatively new to looping and no one in my reality is awake yet. Last two loops where I was joined by someone they pinged first."

The other boy waved him off. "No problem, it happens. Gary Oak, Pokémon reality which you are now in." 

"Jason Scott, from Power Rangers."

Gary frowned. "I thought Tommy Oliver was the Anchor of that reality." 

"Apparently I'm from a different version. Harry Potter wasn't quite sure what was going on." 

"Oh, you already met Harry?" Gary asked.

"First fused loop."

"Someone then really likes you. There are people who have to wait for hundreds of thousands of loops to end up in Hogwarts. Your Admin must have decided that you needed the extra edge." Gary motioned for Jason to follow them and the two began walking towards the large house that sat on the edge of the little village. "Okay, so you haven't gotten giddy with excitement yet so you either don't know what Pokémon is or you are a cool customer."

"The former," Jason admitted. "I didn't pay a lot of attention to pop culture… I was too busy dealing with alien monsters."

"No worries, we run into people who haven't heard of us all the time. At least you're going to handle things better than some people who don't know about our reality… freak outs are never fun. Just a moment." Gary focused and Jason felt the ping. "Wow… a LOT of people are Awake for this one. That will help you out a ton. Seriously, who is your admin?"

"The Mystic Mother. Never met her."

"Hmmm, not familiar with that one. Not the normal Admin for the Power Rangers branch, or the one I know of, at least. Okay, let me give you the cliff notes version. Welcome to the world of Pokémon…"

Gary spent the next 20 minutes as they headed to his grandfather's lab explaining all about the Pokémon world. Jason had quickly caught on and while at first had been bothered by the idea of humans making clearly sentient creatures battle for their entertainment he'd soon realized that Pokémon were just like martial artists, always seeking the next challenge. Their focus during battle though could become so pinpoint that they needed a trainer to help them think of new strategies and notice things they might miss. It was a symbiotic relationship where, yes, one could abuse the other's trust but things worked out all the better if there was harmony. Jason could understand and respect that.

"You sure it isn't a big deal to make your grandfather wait?" Jason asked after Gary had explained the purposes of gyms.

"Ash, when he's not Awake, makes him wait nearly an hour. You actually got here on time, which is a rarity for Loopers. Even then, I already know my Squirtle is waiting for me and since you're replacing Ash this round you're going to be getting Pikachu."

"And Pikachu is your Anchor?" Jason questioned. "Doesn't that make things hard, what with him being a Pokémon?"

"He learned to talk a long time ago so that isn't a big deal. And between him and Ash he's the better choice. Any other questions?"

"Not a one. Let's get started."

"Ah, Gary my boy, good to see you awake," an old man said as the two entered. 

"Good to see you Awake as well," Gary said, giving the standard Looper clue that both were aware in this loop.

"And hello to you to!" Prof. Oak said warmly to Jason. "Now tell me, are you a boy or a girl?"

Jason looked down at himself and then back at the professor.

"Yes yes, I know, but we do get genderswaps occasionally. Boy it is. Name?"

"Jason Scott… though I guess I'm Jason Ketchum in this loop."

"Wonderful!" Prof. Oak said. "Well Gary, your Squirtle is all ready to go and Pikachu should be here any moment to take young Jason in hand."

"Sorry to cut and run but I need to get heading out… I tend to run interference for when we get an Understudy Looper and I have to be on the road setting things up for you and cluing in the others. We'll meet up again soon enough. Smell ya later!"

Jason once more shot the professor a look and Oak sighed. "Sorry, he said that in the baseline and well, he still thinks it's funny. None of us can get him to stop. We actually have a competition among guest loopers to see if they can get in to stop saying that but it never works. And please don't think of actually making yourself stink… too many times… too many times."

"Riiight," Jason drawled. "So, Pikachu?"

"Right here!" the small yellow mouse Pokémon called out, hurrying over and leaping up onto a table so he could better look at Jason. "Sorry about that. So. Pikachu. Anchor of the Pokémon Loops."

"Jason, apparently Anchor of a divergent Power Rangers loops."

"Huh, that's a new one." Pikachu's ear flicked before he shook his head. "Meh, I'll leave that to others to figure out."

"So… you're my first Pokémon?" Jason asked.

Pikachu chuckled. "Nah, wouldn't be fair to you or anyone who wasn't Awake. At this point I'm so overpowered Arceus would bow to me. No, what we normally do is go through a list of all the different Pokémon one can get from the Kanto region and either make it look like you caught them right out the gate."

"Normally?" Jason asked.

"That's why I was late. Your admin and mine needed to talk to me." 

Prof. Oak paled at that. "Oh my… what is wrong?"

"Nothing wrong, they just noticed an issue and decided this would be the best loop to take care of it." Pikachu cocked his head to the side slightly. "You know that your zords have a sentience, right?"

"Yeah. Never much… we are mostly in control but there is an echo of the spirit animal they are based on. Zordon was fond of saying that the 'spirit' of the dinosaur was within them."

"Right. And you've been collecting several duplicates of your Zord, from different points in time."

Prof. Oak's eyes widen. "Do you mean…?"

"Yup."

"Mean what?" Jason asked.

"Reach into your subspace and find your zord. Really focus."

Not sure why Pikachu was asking this Jason did so, rummaging around like one would if digging through a deep bag. Normally it didn't take long, as his pocket wasn't that big and thanks to the shrinking charm he could line up even massive zords in nice little rows. And his weapons he could just call to him, just like he did in battle. He'd had to grab his zords several times, mostly when he wanted to be stealthy before Zordon gave him the powers or needed to nip something in the bud with some extra firepower. But this time was different. As he touched the first of his Red Ranger zords he realized that it just felt like a toy. No power. No hidden strength. Just an action figure. A bit worried he checked the next one, and then the next-

The fourth one THRUMMED with energy and life.

"And I think you just felt it!" Pikachu exclaimed.

"It… it's alive?" Jason whispered.

"Zords have a small amount of sentience. Put enough of the same kind together and they latch onto each like reverse horocruxes." Jason, his hand still in the pocket, ran his fingers along the snout of his T-Rex Zord and could almost feel it leaning into his touch. "The rest are now just machines but that one… that one is truly alive. And the Mystic Mother has decided to have it be… well, kind of like a co-anchor. Said you are connected by the Red Power Coin anyway so it would be easier to just have you be linked."

"Wow," Jason murmured, startled by the feeling that from now on there would be someone else, even if it was his zord, who knew what he was going through, what it was like. As he thought about it though he something occurred to him. "But wait… why was it best to do it this loop?"

Pikachu smiled and motioned with his paws. "Pull it out."

Jason slowly did so and the moment the Tyransaurus Zord emerged from the pocket it transformed. Not like a normal zord but instead the metal fluttered and turned into reddish brown scales. It grew larger, up to Pikachu's size, with the head becoming much bigger now and its posture shifting to adopt what was seen as a more accurate T-Rex stance. The zord looked up at Jason, cocking its head, before opening its mouth.

"Tyrunt! Tyrunt!"

Jason knelt down and gently scratched under the little dino Pokémon's chin, a smile tugging on his lips. "Hey girl…"

~Two Days Later~

"So, the new Understudy Looper, huh?" Misty Waterflower asked as she and Jason sat in the Pokémon center. Jason marveled at the medical technology that this world had to offer… that, along with teleportation and digitalizing of living beings made Jason wonder if, in this world, Zordon's technology had been given to humanity much sooner and thus allowed them to develop and grow not only their culture but the tech itself.

"Yeah and again, sorry about the bike." 

Misty laughed at that. "Stop apologizing. In the baseline Pikachu fries it and most loops see people destroy it some other way… heck, some do it just because it's 'tradition'. You're Tyrunt just burst a wheel and you paid for that when you bought your own bike."

"I still can't believe all of you just walk around most of the time," Jason said with a shake of his head.

"Yeah well bikes are stupidly expensive for some reason and most people are more concerned with Pokémon than themselves."

"Yeah but Gary got a car! I haven't even seen another car since I first Woke up."

"Gary is weird," Misty admitted as Nurse Joy showed up with their Pokémon, Misty's in their balls while Pikachu and the Zord-Turned-Tyrunt both out and about. "Thanks Nurse Joy!"

"Not a problem, young lady. I am truly happy to help…" Before Nurse Joy could finish all the lights went out in the Pokémon Center and the red head looked about nervously. "Oh dear! What could this be?"

"You ready?" 

"For what?" Jason asked.

"Crap," Pikachu mumbled. "I knew I forget to explain something!"

"Pikachu!" Misty hissed.

"Hey, not my fault! I was dealing with getting the Tyrunt settled!"

"Her name is Zara," Jason reminded Pikachu. "She has thoughts and emotions and she has a name. You don't call a dog 'dog'."

"Not this again…" Misty moaned.

"Yes this again, Person! You like that? Hey Person, what would you-"

"Prepare for Trouble!"

"Make it Double!"

"What the heck?" Jason said, his rant about Pokémon/Zords rights cut off by a pair of older teens suddenly appearing in the lobby of the Pokémon Center, each dressed in a white outfit with a red R emblazed on their jackets. The woman had long red hair that seemed to defy both gravity and the laws of physics and the male made him think of Tommy if he had decided to become a posh actor. They did their little speech before striking a dramatic pose, a cat Pokémon joining them and, to Jason's surprise, talking just like Pikachu did.

"Team Rocket!" Misty cried out and Jason instantly got the sense that she was doing this for his benefit. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jessie, the female Rocket, asked. "A Pokémon Center filled with Pokémon that have been weakened and trainers who have already passed up their team to be cared for, leaving them defenseless… the perfect score for the likes of us."

"Too bad we aren't defenseless!" Jason declared, already taking a disliking to these two. In a way they were worse than Rita and Zedd and all the other overlords because they didn't do it out of some grand scheme… they were just common crooks that didn't want to actually put in the work to get what they wanted. With Rita and Zedd they targeted the Rangers… these two picked on the little guys, the ones that couldn't defend themselves.

Jason would show them the error of their ways.

"Well then, I suppose we could give you a workout before we take all those wonderful Pokémon!" James stated, sniffing his rose before tossing out a Pokémon. "Hmmm…Koffing, use Tackle!"

"Ekans, use Bite!" Jessie shouted, a strange ball-like Pokémon with a grinning face and a purple snake appearing and charging at the others.

"Go Staryu, use Watergun!"

"PIka!" Pikachu cried, his cheeks sparking.

"Zara, match that snake bite for bite!" Jason shouted before rushing forward.

"What, running so soon?" Jessie taunted as Jason moved towards her, Zara already going after the snake and biting down on its tail. "If you wish to flee before our might then-"

"Hiya!" Jason cried, delivering a karate chop to Jessie's side that had the female tumbling away.

"Ow! You… you hit me!"

"Yeah!" Jason said, sending a spin kick towards James, the male Rocket crying out and shielding himself while screaming "Not in the face! Not in the face!" He twisted around, Misty staring at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and continuing her attack commands, and he called out to Zara for her to use a Headbutt before turning his attention to the rockets. "You think you can just hide like cowards behind your Pokémon, forcing them to do horrible things all to slate your greed? Think again!" Jessie, enraged, tried to call out to Ekans but Jason grabbed her arm and tossed her over his shoulder. "This is one trainer that fights WITH his Pokémon!"

"Then how about ya try fighting AGAINST one!" Meowth called out, claws out and ready. "Here is a few Scratches, just for ya!" Jason quickly leapt back and grabbed a phone book, using it to shield against the cat's attacks. "Yeah, that's right, you ain't so-YEOW!" Meowth's eyes went wide as Zara hurried over and chomped down on his tail, Jason using the opportunity to fling the phone book in Ekans' face before grabbing the snake by the tail and using it as a thick, angry whip to strike Jessie before she could get up again. Zara thrashed her head about, sending Meowth at Jason who easily spun kicked the cat into the Rockets just as Staryu's water gun sent Koffing into the mass pile of limbs. That left James as the only one left and Jason only needed to glare at him for the teen to whimper and toss himself into the pile.

"So, what do we do now?" Jason asked. "Usually when I fight it ends with an explosion."

"Then you are in luck," Misty said as Pikachu smirked, his cheeks sparking.

~20 Seconds Later~ 

"TEAM ROCKET IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

"Again?" Jason asked.

"Don't ask, no idea why they say that," Pikachu stated with a shrug. "Why did you decide to go all Bruce Lee on them?"

Jason knelt down and checked Zara over, his transformed Zord purring as he scratched her chin. "Like I said… I fight with my Zord as a team… and she is now a Pokémon so I will stand with her."

"That's not how we do things in this world," Misty complained.

"Maybe you should," Jason reasoned. "Anyway, come on… let's go."

Misty and Pikachu shared a look. "Is this going to end good or bad?" she asked.

"I think a bit of both."

~M~L~P~R~

Author's Notes: The Green Candle… one of the weirdest yet coolest ideas Power Rangers ever came up with.

The next loop, for those who haven't figured it out, is the Lost Episode/The Unaired Pilot. I knew I wanted to play around with that but I haven't watched that in… god, at least 10 years, if not 20. And WOW is it weird! Like… it is a mind trip. And it was just so filled with opportunities for humor! I had originally planned to just write it based on reading synopsis and stuff but in the end I just watched the whole thing, pausing in between to write out bits.

And we welcome to the loops the Tyrannosaurus Zord/Thunder Dragon Zord. I debated several different things with this loop, including Jason keeping his Tyrunt in his subspace in her ball, but they I decided that it would be really interesting, since Jason and the Zord are linked thanks to his coin, to make her a semi-anchor in that she's linked to Jason and thus will be Awake every loop. And thus we have our first Awakened Looper/Co-Anchor: Zara the Tyrannosaurus zord


	6. Chapter 6

**Loop 22 Continued**

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" 

Brock and Misty both grabbed Jason's arms, trying to yank him away from the target of his wraith. It wasn't easy though as, while he was only 11 years old in this loop, Jason was still a Power Ranger and when one had been basically soaking in that much morphing energy for so many loops even an untrained body began to develop quickly to match the soul within. Brock fumbled and released Geodude, who began to assist and even then the Red Ranger was only being pulled slightly back.

Brock and Misty shared a look. They were long used to dealing with Loopers who came in and Understudied Ash. It was highly common for them, along with a Looper taking Misty's place (Brock not so much but still it happened often enough). There were always a variety of reactions when it came to someone playing Ash's role, from those that were 'hyper competent' and wanted to prove they could do things 'right' (and thus ended up missing a lot of the fun of being a trainer) to those just looking to have fun to those that could rival Ash on his worst days. They'd had Carmen Sandiego decide to take over Team Rocket and Indiana Jones stop the quest and just become an archeologist just as he was in his baseline. There had been a loop where Owen Grady had a team of multi-colored Charmanders and one where Rarity had decided to be a Coordinator instead. Some had left Misty shaken (such as one loop where Seto Kaiba had been Ash and ended up becoming a rival of Giovanni's) and others that had still left her cackling (such as when Saitama had discovered that his 'one-punch' status could infect Pokémon, resulting in him winning the Pokemon League with a Magikarp and a Metapod that only knew Harden).

They'd also seen a ton of different ways people handled Brock's gym. Some went Ash's route. Others actually searched for a Water or Grass Type. A couple actually skipped his gym, forcing him to figure out a cunning way to join the group (especially when Misty wasn't Awake in those loops).

But never had they had a Looper flip his top and begin screaming at Brock's dad.

"You… you don't understand…" Flint Slate stammered.

Jason though was having none of his weak arguments. "He is your SON! Those are your CHILDREN!" He waved at the Slate Family home. "The moment their mother, your wife, abandoned them you should have come home and been a man and done what you needed to do!" He shoved Misty and Brock away and adjusted his coat; less because it needed adjusting and more that he needed something to do with his hands. "You claim you were ashamed to face them, to admit you failed at being a trainer. Let's ignore the fact that if you have a Pokémon and care for it and love it you can never be a failure. Let's focus on the fact that you decided 'Failed Trainer' wasn't good enough for your resume so you decided to add 'Failed Father' to it too." Flint flinched at that but Jason didn't have an ounce of sympathy. "When your son should be focusing on what he wants to do with his life you decide to dump responsibility of his brothers and sisters on HIM because you are a coward. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic." Jason reached over and grabbed Flint's pinkie finger, twisting it until the man cried out in pain. "Be a man and do your job! Take over the gym, raise your kids, and maybe get on the phone with your wife and tell her that you two need to focus on what matters! Stop being so selfish! Got it?"

"Yes! Yes!" Flint wailed.

Jason scoffed and shoved Flint away. "When we come back round here if you aren't a model father there will be hell to pay."

Brock, Misty, and Pikachu hurried to catch up to the fuming Jason, Zara right on his heels while Flint hastily made a beeline towards his home.

"You didn't have to do that," Brock stated when they finally left Pewter. "My dad always wises up eventually."

"Eventually being the key word." He let out a huff and scrubbed his face with his bare hands. "Sorry… my parents were great but Kim's dad bailed after the divorce and her mom wasn't much better. I saw what it did to her and… well… I haven't gotten the chance yet to fix that problem so your dad became a warm-up for that fight." He let out another sigh, his shoulders slumping. "I've done Big Brothers/Big Sisters in my reality and a lot of the kids I mentored had problems with parents just like that, who are too selfish and self-centered to do right by their kids. I don't know… it's just an issue for me. Sorry Brock." 

"Hey, think nothing of it. I admit there were a few times when I wanted to knock some sense into my parents' heads."

"Well, I promise I won't snap like that again. Now then, it's onto Mt. Moon and their your sisters' gym, right Misty?"

Misty's eyes went to pinpricks.

~Two Weeks Later~ 

Jason leveled a cold stare at Misty's sister, the badge that they had just tried to hand to still held out in Daisy's hand, Lily and Violet flanking her and looking rather nervously at the 11 year old who was currently shooting daggers at them.

"How did your gym get started?" Jason finally asked. Even though he had a squeaky voice that hadn't deepened thanks to puberty there was still enough steel in it to keep the three older girls from even budging an inch. "According to the plaque outside it was founded 84 years ago by your great grandfather Arthur Waterflower after his arrival from the Orange Islands. He wished to create a place to celebrate the water Pokémon that had helped him cross the treacherous sea so he might start a new life in Kanto." Jason just shook his head. "84 years and now you are just handing out the badges."

"We... we just don't like battling!" Lily complained. "It's not for us! But because Misty decided to travel we were forced to watch over the gym."

"Hire a trainer to run the gym for you."

"What's that now?" Violet asked.

"Hire a trainer to be gym leader if you hate it so much. I'm sure it's not that hard to find a Water-Type trainer. Most gyms have Jr. Trainers anyway except for Pewter and that's because Brock should have been a Jr. Trainer himself, learning from his father." He turned to the Rock-Expert. "No offense."

"None taken."

"But that would cost money and we wouldn't be able to put on our shows!"

"And when is the last time you put on a show?" Jason challenged... and the girls all blushed and mumbled. "I'm sorry, that sounds like you haven't put on a show yet. It seems to me you are just using that as an excuse to laze about and mooch off the Pokémon League!" Jason began to pace, Zara joining him as he circled the pool, shaking his head. "You can't get something for nothing! I knew this guy, Bulk... a lot of people thought he was just this dumb guy but he actually could be really smart when he wanted to be. Dedicated too. And brave." Jason smiled wistfully, remembering when Astronema had attacked and Bulk and Skull had been the ones to lead the charge against the aliens, rallying the people of Angel Grove. He let out a sigh though when he remembered the rest of Bulk's life... the good and the bad. "He always wanted to be popular and famous but he never wanted to put in the work. He said he wanted to learn martial arts but in reality all he wanted to learn was how to do a few moves so he could CLAIM he knew martial arts. He wanted to be a cop but he didn't want to work so he could move up through the ranks. I think about him now and I get sad because I see what he could have become had he just APPLIED HIMSELF!" Jason chopped his hand into his open palm, Zara actually mimicking him with her own claws… or trying to. "It's the same with you three! You like the title of Gym Leader but don't want to work for it. You want to be famous but don't want to put in the effort. You want to be admired but you don't want to give people a reason TOO admire you!"

"You want me to stop this?" Brock whispered.

"No..." Misty said slowly. "I think they need to hear this."

~A week and a half later~

"So what's our next stop?" Jason asked as he snagged a water bottle from his subspace pocket (that made travelling SO much easier) and sat down next to Zara, filling the bowl he had out for her with half of his drink. They'd just gotten done teaching his newly acquired Charmander how to throw a few Focus Punches while Squirtle and Bulbasaur practiced dodging with Pikachu.

"Lt. Surge and his Thunder gym," Misty said.

"Hmmm... well after your sisters and Brock's dad he can't be too bad."

Pikachu held up a hand as Brock opened his mouth. "No one tell him," the electric mouse whispered with an evil little grin.

"...still holding a grudge?" Brock asked.

"'Give'em another thunda-bolt! Give'em another thunda-bolt!'" Pikachu said snidely. "Yeah, just a touch."

~Four Days Later~

"Heh, look at da little baby with his baby Po-ke-mon!" Lt. Surge, the lightning American (though how there was an 'America' in the Pokémon world no one knew), taunted with a smug smirk, his Raichu mimicking his pose as the two of them looked Jason, Pikachu, and Zara up and down and found them completely wanting. "Da kin-ta-garten is down da road, baby, if ya got lost! Cuss ya certainly ain't here for a gym battle, not wid that weak little Pi-ka-chu!"

Jason merely looked up at Surge, his tongue prodding the inside of his cheek. "Aren't gym leaders supposed to accept all challengers so trainers can learn and grow and develop?"

"Heh, that might be true for some of them there weaklin' gyms, but us here in Vermillion are concerned with power! I ain't gonna waste my time fightin' babies when I can take on real challenges! Come back when ya actually can give me a real test! Like when ya are out of pull-ups!"

Jason shucked off his coat and rolled his shoulders. "You know, you look like a guy who doesn't just like to fight with Pokémon but also fight using his own hands."

"I've been known ta throw down on occasion, if that's what yar sayin'. Me and old Raichu here have even fought in the Saffron Dojo and they usually only let Fightin' types in there." Surge sneered at Jason but the Ranger didn't back down. "That should tell ya just how out of yar league ya are, baby."

Jason didn't even crack a smile. "Well, I fancy myself a bit of a fighter myself. How about you and me spar a bit... if I put on a decent showing you let us take on your Raichu in a battle?"

Surge laughed but it wasn't as mocking as his other chortles had been. "Ya got spunk kid, I'll give ya that! Reminds me of myself back before I learned ta walk! Alright, ya got a deal!" He stepped up to Jason, so that the boy was within striking distance of him. "But don't expect me ta go easy on ya... when ol' Lt. Surge goes to lay out a punk... he lays them OUT!" With that Surge lashed out with an open palm, planning to just smack Jason in the side and send him tumbling to the ground. The boy would get bruised but he didn't want to break any bones or anything messy like that. Just show him that he had a long way to go before he could match the Lightning American.

Jason, without even turning his head, raised his left arm and easily stopped Surge's blow.

The gym leader let out a grunt. It had felt like he'd just slammed his entire arm into a concrete pole! Taking a step back Surge moved to grab Jason and toss him aside but the boy easily took a single step to the right, moving so fast that Surge swore he saw an afterimage of the baby trainer. Where there should have been clothing and a person there was just air and Surge stumbled, which gave Jason the chance to leap up and lash out with his own left-handed chop across the back of his neck, sending Surge toppling to the ground in a heap.

"Ya... ya've had a bit of trainin' I see!" Surge sputtered as he moved to stand back up.

"A bit," Jason said coolly, his left arm racing up to catch a punch Surge tried to send his way. Jason's fingers gripped Surge's fist and he squeezed slightly, making the gym leader cry out in pain before he twisted his arm so fast that Surge found himself flipping end-over-end and slamming down onto the floor once more. Looking over at the baby's friends he noticed that they were watching with utter amusement... and the Pikachu had at some point gotten a bucket of popcorn that he'd drizzled with ketchup and was happily munching on. "But there is something I should let you know, Lieutenant."

Surge leapt to his feet, his blood thundering in his ears and every nerve blazing with electricity as he stared down the boy. "And what is that?" He roared as he gave up all pretenses of going easy on the baby and swinging out both his fists in a hammer blow.

Only for Jason to smack the strikes away once more.

"I'm not left handed," he said with a grin before driving his right fist into Surge's gut, doubling the man over and making him see stars. The gym leader let out a gasp as the air was knocked out of him and when he looked up Jason went from standing in front of him to being gone, his image flickering in a blink of an eye. Surge, in a panic, whipped his head about, turning behind him just in time to see Jason cocking his right fist back.

And to his dying day the Lightning American would swear he saw the kanji for DEATH in blood red letters right before Jason's fist... stopped a hair's breath from his nose.

"I win," he said, flicking Surge on the forehead. "Now, about that gym battle..."

THUD!

Jason turned to see Raichu lying on the ground, a dazed look on his face and Pikachu standing over him with his tail still in Iron Tail mode.

~Nearly a Month Later~

"Okay, seriously, who is in charge of monitoring these gyms?" Jason complained after he, Misty, and Brock stood before Saffron City's gym, the warning from the man Jason had learned was Sabrina's father still ringing in their ears. No matter how many times they looped through this particular gym it still gave them the creeps. The sun might have been shining and the pidgeys chirping but a shadow seemed to forever hang over the Saffron Gym.

Brock sighed. "It's complicated. Gym leaders get examined once every two years, to ensure that they are doing their job. Should be more but there just aren't a lot of people who want to be a gym evaluator and those few that are have been drafted to other departments." Brock had looped once where his mother and father had never left and in turn he had ended up joining the Pokémon League as an Evaluator only to get recruited by Lance within a month to deal with Team Rocket; it turned out Giovanni had his hand in a lot of pies, far more than they had ever realized, and that Jessie and James had only been a tiny part of the massive criminal operation. "Of course a trainer can file a complaint and that usually gets someone here quick."

"Except if said trainer has their memory wiped or are turned into dolls before they can file said complaint..." Misty said with a shudder.

"Okay then, direct route. Zara?"

The Tyrunt let out a roar and smashed her head into the door of the Saffron Gym, causing the finely crafted wood to splinter and shatter as it flew into the gym with an unholy crash. Jason, without even a backwards glance, marched into the gym with a smug Zara beside him; Pikachu, Misty, and Brock all shared a look before following. At worst they'd all get turned into dolls and Sabrina's father would save them, just like in the baseline. Still, none of them were looking forward to that.

Sabrina was sitting on her polished marble throne, her creepy little doll sitting in her lap. Her head was tilted down slightly, making her gaze look all the more sinister, and her body didn't even twitch as Jason approached and stood in the middle of the gym.

'So, another comes to challenge me,' Sabrina thought, projecting her thoughts into all of their heads. 'Weak. Pathetic. So full of bluster but lacking true strength. The body is nothing more than a shell to house the power of the mind.' Her head snapped up and her eyes flashed as she focused on Jason. 'Let us see what fears you hide within!'

Jason just stood there.

'Wait... what is this?' Sabrina pressed her mental probe harder only to get the same affect. For a powerful psychic they could spend hours in a mind but only have seconds occur in the real world. It allowed them to find what they needed to know seemingly instantaneously. But each time she entered his mind rather than finding his memories and thoughts Sabrina's mental self found herself in a strange, fog-filled room with green walls with massive openings that were barred by golden bars. Beyond that lay only darkness and all around her was a cackling laugh. She'd try to press forward only for the room to shrink till she was tossed away after what felt like days. It was taking too long... she was in his mind too long for the amount of time that passed in the real world. She stared at Jason as she was once again casted from that room.

"Occlumency shield," Jason said out loud. "I had a great teacher... he taught me how to defend my mind from such attacks. He also taught me this!" Jason flicked his wrist and the wand holder he'd secured to his wrist while Zara was breaking down the door to the gym slid his 13 and 2/3rds inch red wood wand with crimson dragon heartstring core into his waiting hand. Before Sabrina could react Jason pointed the wand at her and shouted "Legilimens!"

Sabrina had learned how to protect her mind from psychic attacks. The clawing, tearing, worming strikes that sought to sneak into her mind and pull out her secrets. She had built around her mind a wall, as solid as iron and as tall and wide as the universe itself. But walls meant nothing when the probe sent hurtling at her was so razor thin it could slip through the molecules of her defense. And the moment it touched Sabrina gasped as the memories appeared, the ones she had tried to keep the world from seeing… and herself. The pain. The loneliness. The despair. The longing for a simple life that everyone else had. The self loathing as she became the very thing she saw her parents and instructors as when it came to raising her own Pokémon. The terror of what she was doing and the disgust that she enjoyed it.

And then it was done and she was left panting on her throne, her doll falling from her fingers.

The Psychic looked up as Jason walked towards her, looking at her with a blank expression. She could sense the fear in his friends' minds and snippets of his dealings with the other gym leaders filled her minds. His roaring at the girl's sisters. His castrating bellows as the male's father. His utter destroying of that blowhard Surge. Was she next? And did she not deserve it? 

But there was something Sabrina, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu didn't know. Jason Scott hadn't become one of the most popular kids in school and the leader of the Power Rangers because he was strong and tough. No, it was his heart that had seen Zordon choose him. How he would volunteer to teach students how to perform karate, spending long weekends after class was over working with students who were struggling to catch up. Being a Big Brother to little boys and girls who hadn't gotten a father who would teach them to ride a bike. Working at soup kitchens because he remembered the tales his Uncle Marcus would tell him about when he'd struggled and ended up on the street and how a kind face sometimes meant more than the warm bowl of food. When his friends had a problem they turned to him. He was the one Kimberly had sought out at 2 in the morning, sobbing after her parents had gotten into another fight and had held her as she cried on his porch. When Trini had been scared her father would be transferred yet again it was Jason who had promised that they'd always remain friends. When Zack's grandma had fallen ill Jason had sat with him in the hospital the entire time and when she'd finally passed and Zack was too heartbroken to be a pall bearer Jason had stood up at the end of the funeral and taken his place. When he'd found some bullies picking on Billy it was Jason who had rushed in to save him… and then later, as the two of them were bruised and bloodied, it was Jason that asked if Billy wanted to sit with him at lunch, the first boy to ever want to hang out with Billy purely because he was Billy.

None of them knew this. They had only seen Jason the fighter.

It was Jason the Leader who knelt down… and hugged Sabrina as she broke down sobbing, clutching at his shirt as she trembled and shook.

"It's okay," Jason whispered, rubbing her back. "It's okay now."

~Three Weeks Later~

"So most gym leaders run businesses out of their gyms?" Jason asked as the group looked around the perfume shop.

"Some due, some don't," Brock stated. "We get a salary from the League, of course, but depending on how big or complex the gym is leaders will need to get secondary jobs. Pewter is easy, as we keep it simple, and Surge gets disability checks along with his salary."

"He's disabled?" Jason asked before blinking. "Ah. Explains the 'kin-da-gar-den' thing then."

"No… he has a bum knee. He always talked like that," Pikachu stated. "A putz."

Misty shrugged. "My gym is the local aquarium and swimming pool but, well, you saw what my sisters wanted to do."

Sabrina, who was looking over some bottles of rose water, shrugged. "My parents were rich. I guess they thought paying for everything made up for… you know."

Misty and Brock shared a look. It was still so very odd to have Sabrina traveling with them. After Jason had done… whatever he did, they still didn't understand exactly how his magic worked (they rarely got to loop through Hogwarts and never got as intense of training as he'd been given)… Sabrina had undone the damage she had done and then, with tears in her eyes but steel in her spine, gone to Officer Jenny and reported her parents for child abuse. Her mother had tried to laugh it off but when Sabrina produced the recordings of her 'training sessions' her mother had found herself in handcuffs and Kadabra had had grabbed her father before he could sneak away. Jason had been helpful in locking down her father's powers (a skill he'd learned from his teacher 'Harry', he'd told her) and then the group had contacted the Pokémon League. Sabrina needed a sabbatical and the League, seeing how badly they'd messed up supporting one of their own Gym leaders, had agreed. In the end the Fighting Dojo, which had been trying to get accredited for years, was tasked with taking over while Sabrina traveled and if they did a good job they would get full accreditation when she returned.

Sabrina had been an odd mix to the group but it worked. She at times had a child-like wonder of the world while other times was cold and dark… mostly when Team Rocket attacked. Jason was always there to help her out and the two had become fast friends.

"Makes sense, really," Jason finally said. "I worked out at the rec center that also had a juice bar and an arcade… kind of the same thing."

The sales clerk behind the counter though glared at Jason. "Did you just equate my beautiful, fragrant perfume shop with a smelly rec center?"

"It wasn't smelly," Jason said casually. "Ernie worked super hard to make sure everything was clean."

"And you compare me to some lout named Ernie?" the clerk declared.

Jason fumed at the insult against Ernie but remained polite. "Listen, I'm not-"

The woman grabbed his hand and slammed a stamp on it.

"OW! What the heck!?"

"You are banned!" the clerk declared.

"Banned?"

"Banned for being rude, you horrible little boy! I should have known a BOY wouldn't understand beauty and culture." The clerk looked down at him and scowled. "And don't even think about coming into my gym, as you are banned from that too!"

"…wait, let me get this straight," Jason said slowly. "You are Erika, the gym leader."

"Correct."

"One of only 8 gym leaders in Kanto."

"Correct," Erika said with a smirk.

"And you just banned me and affectively ended my Pokémon Journey because I talked about a rec center."

"And because you are a boy!" Erika said firmly.

Sabrina's eyes flashed red. "Would you like me to show her the error of her ways?"

Jason put a hand on her arm, stopping her before she turned Erika's mind to pudding. "Nah… we're done here. But we'll be back."

"You will not!" Erika called out as the group began to leave. "Banned! Banned rude boy!"

"She seems a touch more intense than normal," Pikachu pointed out.

Jason merely made his way towards the nearest phone…

~One Day Later~

"Please! Please don't do this!" Erika cried as two Officer Jennys shoved her into a patrol car. "It was a joke! A joke! I swear! Orange is not the new black!"

"And in a stunning turn of events," a reporter said, filming the scene on location, "Celadon City gym leader Erika Thorne has been arrested for abuse of power! According to documents given to PRTV News the Pokémon League received a complaint that Miss Thorne had harassed a trainer purely because of his gender. Upon arriving to investigate the League learned of eight more male trainers in the city alone who had been banned purely because they were male. While Miss Thorn claimed that there were other reasons the League has ruled that these justifications were flimsy at best and took Miss Thorne into custody. The League will be placing a temporary gym leader in charge of Celadon Gym until a permanent replacement can be found.

"With the Saffron City Conspiracy, Lt. Surge of Vermillion forced to undergo sensitivity training, and now this one has to ask… what is happening to the Kanto Region Gyms? This is Al Danews, signing off."

Misty, Brock, and Pikachu stared at a smirking Jason.

"What?"

~Two Months Later~

"The way of the ninja is to understand one's mind, body, and soul. To know your surroundings and how they might become an extension of you. This battle-"

Jason raised his hand. "Hey, I can't wait to battle you and Zara wants to test out some moves-" the recently evolved Tyrantrum nodded, thrilled that she was back to being big again (it was fine to be small and cute as it meant treats but she was a zord and liked to have the ability to take down large threats), "-but would you mind terribly if we sparred at some point, either before that or after? It's been too long since I got to practice. Misty and Brock aren't interested and Pikachu is too small."

Koga looked at Jason and considered. "I heard of your fight with Surge."

"That wasn't a fight. That was teaching a bully a lesson. I mean actual sparring between two who respect the ancient ways."

Koga rubbed his chin. "Hmmm… let us see how you handle first THIS!" And with that he threw some ninja stars at Jason. They weren't actual stars, made of lightweight foam and designed for practice, they always worked in scaring the new trainers and then getting a laugh when they realized they weren't in danger.

Except Jason didn't laugh.

Because Jason wasn't there.

Had Koga done more research on Jason he'd have known he didn't wear all red ninja garb to his gym battles. No, Jason had morphed into his Ninjor Ninja garb so he could use some of the abilities the ancient sage had taught him during a few of his loops when he got the Ape powers.

Like disappearing Obi Wan Style.

Koga blinked at the fallen cloth that lay on the ground, moving towards it only for Jason to burst out of the ground. It was only Koga's training that allowed him to block the kick and go in for a flurry of punches. The old ninja grinned… this would be a fight to remember! Finally, a challenge! 

"Of course he'd love this one!" Misty complained.

~3 Months Later~

"Sabrina?" 

"Yes Jason?"

"This is an active volcano Blaine took us to, right?"

"It is."

Jason sighed, cast a bubble head charm on everyone, and then pulled out his dex and activating the phone feature he'd installed a week ago. "Pokémon League? What are your rules on gym leaders endangering trainers' health?"

~One Month Later~

Mewtwo sighed. Finally, at long last, the Understudy Looper was coming to Giovanni's gym.

When he'd Awoken and yet again found himself in that horrid tank he had decided that this would be a loop where he allowed the Understudy to battle him. Sometimes he wasn't in the mood and would just escape but other times he played closer to baseline, creating his island. And then there were occasions where he decided it would interesting to stay a bit longer in the Rocket Leader's control and see how the Looper handled him.

'Not that I just allow myself to be abused,' he thought as he stood up, smiling at Ambertwo as she drank some of that lovely tea from Dinotopia that Roxanne Hammond had told her about. When he'd Awoken he'd quickly altered everyone in the lab's perception, gotten Ambertwo and the three cloned starters out, and made a beeline for a little island he knew about near the Whirl Islands. There he had pulled out a subspaced house and set it up before enjoying a rather relaxing year or so without any troubles. Giovanni believed that Mewtwo was still growing and evolving, not realizing that the Psychic Cat had merely altered his mind to believe that, along with all the other Rocket Grunts, a broom with a crudely drawn paper mask on it was him. Occasionally Mewtwo would appear just to make sure things were going smoothly but otherwise he was happy to stick to the island.

When Gary Oak had pinged him and told him about this new Looper Mewtwo had been interested. He hadn't gotten a chance to loop into this Power Ranger universe but the idea of human fighters with supernatural abilities intrigued him. Following Jason's adventures had only increased his interest. The looper seemed quite odd as at times he appeared rather violent and hotheaded and other times caring and gentle. The way he'd handled poor Sabrina was certainly a check plus towards his character. So he had decided to see how Jason would handle him in his full 'Under Team Rocket's Control' persona. That meant donning his Darth Vader Armor (well, not the actual armor, though he did have a set of that where Luke was a Mew and the Emperor was a Gengar), fiddled with Giovanni's brain a bit (always fun, last time he'd made the man pee himself every time he heard the word 'computer') and took his place in the gym, ready for the looper to arrive.

He'd asked, via dex message, for the other loopers from his reality to fill Jason in on who he was but not that he was looping. He wanted to see how this looper would handle him, how he would prepare. He'd heard that Rangers were amazing fighters… would he figure out a way to defeat his psychic abilities? He'd somehow neutralized Sabrina and made her an ally… would he attempt the same? 

The World's Strongest Pokémon waited as the doors opened and Jason stepped into the dark gym, Pikachu and his Tyrantrum Zara beside him. Giovanni was sitting in his throne-like chair, what he thought was a Persian at his side (but it was really a Grimer who loved kissing and licking fingers… Mewtwo had to have his fun and his friend, Dr. Frasier Crane, said that such pranks were better than trying to destroy the world) and a cocky smile on his face. Mewtwo waited as Jason took out Giovanni's team of ground types, using his Venasaur and Blastiose to do most of the heavy lifting. Still, eventually it came to the natural conclusion and the doors opened allowing Mewtwo to step forth in his robotic armored glory.

Jason stood at the ready and Mewtwo raised his hand, allowing the looper to make the first move.

"Zara, Drago Meteor!"

Mewtwo held up a hand, ready to bat the attack away, only to blink when the attack targeted Giovanni instead. The Rocket Leader cried out as he was forced to dive away, his throne destroyed and part of the gym blown out. Before he could react though Jason ran up and leapt onto the balcony, planting his foot on the man's throat.

"Release him," Jason said sternly.

"What… what are you-"

"That Pokémon. Mewtwo. Release him now. He is free of you and your evil experiments."

"Who do you think-" Giovanni gurgled as Jason pushed a bit harder on his windpipe before allowing him to breathe normally again.

"Do it or I don't stop next time."

Mewtwo, startled by this act, finally gave the mental command and made Giovanni give the command that would remove his armor (actually he just said "I am a little teapot"… Mewtwo removed the armor himself; Jason was confused by seemed to believe it was a codeword).

At that moment Lance of the Elite Four rushed in with Looker of the International Police, backed up by an elite squad of G Men. They two older trainers looked up at Jason and huffed.

"We told you to wait."

"I don't wait if people need my help," Jason said. "People or Pokémon." Jason hauled Giovanni up and pulled out some cuffs. "You're under arrest for a whole crap ton of crimes."

"What do we do with… that?" Looker asked, looking over at Mewtwo.

"It isn't a 'that' it is a living creature," Jason said, leaping back down and without fear approaching Mewtwo. "I'm not going to insult you by talking down to you. I know you are smart… smarter than me in a lot of things, I'd say. But I want to apologize." Mewtwo raised an eyebrow at that. "Apologize on behalf of the entire human race. We failed you. We let people like Giovanni and Team Rocket do whatever they wanted and the end result was this." Mewtwo remained still; he was well used to trainers discussing how he should have never come to be. It didn't bother him anymore and- "They had no right to torture you. No right to force you to fight. You are a living, breathing creature and the only one that should decide how you live your life is you." Jason smiled. "I hope that you choose to live it helping others. I have a mentor, Zordon… he fought against evil and it cost him everything. He was trapped, only able to observe the world thanks to a giant tube. Only company was a robot. And even then he never lost hope. He continued to fight. And he believed in five teenagers to fight and save the world. He never lost faith. I hope you can do the same."

Mewtwo had faced many opponents in the loops. Some raised Pokémon up to try and defeat him. Others took him on themselves. Some would use tricks, others blunt force. And some would mix and match all of these.

But it had been a long time… a very long time… that someone had fought FOR him, rather than against him.

'Thank you, Jason,' Mewtwo projected. 'Thank you for once more showing me that there is good in all the realities.'

"You're looping?" Jason whispered.

Mewtwo merely smirked before teleporting away.

~Decades Later~

Jason never went to the Pokémon League.

His journey through Kanto had showed him that even in this wonderful world there were dangers and evils that needed to be stopped. He couldn't rightly go and fight battles against other trainers when the likes of Team Rocket were around. So despite what Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and Gary said Jason had waved goodbye to them and set about going it on his own, training with his Pokémon but mostly Zara, finding those that sought to harm the innocent and taking them out. Sometimes he suited up as the Red Ranger. Other times just as himself. It didn't matter. He did good.

It wasn't just criminals he went after. If a mayor was corrupt he brought him down. Deadbeat dads were dragged to the courthouse. Once he'd dealt with a crooked Officer Jenny who had decided to join Team Aqua and he'd revealed her crimes and left her to her family to punish. Another time he found some orphans and stayed a year until they were finally brave enough to alert the local town of their existence. Word would spread throughout the regions of the mysterious Ranger (for many thought he was a Pokémon Ranger) who would appear, save the day, and then disappear just as quickly as he had appeared. It would have been a lonely life if not for Zara, who was his constant companion, the two so close that the need for words and speech was non-existent.

But even heroes fall eventually.

Jason groaned, looking at the bit of rebar that had impaled him. The lab was on fire and he could hear alarms and sirens going off. He struggled to lift himself up but his body just couldn't do it. He was old. Far older than he'd ever made it before in a loop. His dark hair was near white and his body ached when he got up in the morning. He had thought about retiring but when he'd heard about Team Nexo trying to use old Team Rocket data to clone Arceus he had known he had to stop it.

And he had. The admins were dead, the lab destroyed. It had only cost him his life.

"Rum… rum…" Zara grumbled, nudging him with her snout.

"Sorry… not this time," Jason coughed. "I think this is the end. Or the beginning, seeing as I'll loop again. Tell me what happened after I left, okay?"

Zara shook her head and settled down next to him.

"Heh… should have known," he whispered as he shut his eyes, the pain not hurting so much anymore…

 **Loop 23**

Jason woke up with a start.

"You okay man?" Zack asked and Jason fought the urge to hug his dear friend. It had been nearly 70 years since he'd last seen the hip hop loving Black Ranger and Jason knew that if he focused too much on it he'd begin sobbing like a baby. "Jay, you alright?"

"Bad dream," Jason mumbled as he looked about Ernie's. Kim was on the balance beam. Trini and Billy were talking about something. No Tommy so he wagered this was in their first few months of being rangers.

"Still thinking about Pudgy Pig?" Zack asked with a shudder. "Gah, he gives me nightmares."

"Yeah, me too," Jason lied; after all he had seen a pig monster wasn't a problem at all. "Listen, I'm gonna step out, get a breath of fresh air. I'll be right back." 

"Sure thing, man!" Zack said. "When you get back I want to show you a new move. Gonna love it!"

Jason grinned and clapped Zack on the shoulder before forcing himself to merely walk, not sprint, to the exit. The moment he was outside he focused and Apparated to outside of Angel Grove, in the desert badlands that stretched out beyond the border of the city. Moving to a familiar crack in the earth Jason sent out a ping.

The earth trembled and the Tyrannazord looked down at him as she rose from the ground.

"Hey Zara. We're back."

Zara let out a roar of triumph.


	7. Chapter 7

**Loop 24**

"So, any thoughts on how you want to play this?" Zara asked, sitting on the ground next to Jason's bed, staring at the tv screen as she played Super Mario Brothers on a classic Super Nintendo she had pocketed. The controller had been reinforced with every spell Jason could think of, to ensure that it didn't break in her hands.

Jason looked up from the notebook he'd pulled from his subspace pocket and smiled. It had taken then much of the last loop to get to where they were now. The first issue had been Zara's size and it had taken Jason about two days of researching to find the right spell that would shrink her down to his height. The only pain had been that the spell needed to be reapplied once every 19 hours or she'd grow back to her original height; Jason had almost destroyed his house when he'd overslept one time. Still, that was better than transfixuring her into a toy, as he had done in the past, as now she could move about.

Next had been ensuring that she could get to a zord battle in time. That had meant using a mixture of portkey and spellbreaking so that when she activated said portkey the teleportation would break the size spell and bring her up to full size, leaving no one the wiser.

When she was Jason's height she usually slipped into her humanoid Red Dragon Thunderzord mode. Jason had been a bit surprised that she could do that but Zara had informed him that now that she was looping she remembered the conversion program and simply accessed that. Thus she could spend time in his room or wander in secluded areas of the valleys and canyons that bordered Angel Grove without crushing buildings under her dainty feet (and yes, she might be a large zord but she had dainty feet no matter what anyone said).

Faking her death had been interesting, to say the least. Jason, once more skipping the peace conference, had decided to let the Thunderzords go as it would allow Zara freedom to research and train without having to constantly come to a battle. For that they'd had to go into the final battle using an action figure of the Red Dragon Thunder Zords that Jason cast a growth charm upon and then piloted with his magic. If any of his friends noticed that he was unusually tired after the loss of the Thunderzords they didn't comment. Jason had finally left the team just before Zeo, not needing another Red Zeo crystal or the zords (having stocked up on those a few loops ago) and knowing that he had something much more important to focus on for the current loop.

The biggest issue for Zara during the last couple loops had been her inability to speak. Between Pokémon and Zord there simply wasn't any hope of learning how to produce the sounds needed to communicate with humans her needs and desires. While some Pokémon could learn to talk the mouth of an ancient dragon wasn't built for such things and Zordon had never seen the need for a Zord to be tell a Ranger they needed to swing right rather than left. While Jason and her had worked all manner of ways to communicate, starting with sign language and then actual writing Zara had longed to be able to converses with her ranger/trainer all on her own.

That's why the Machine Empire had been such a blessing.

Capturing Orbus the first time he'd showed up to make a monster grow, the two of them had worked to deactive the little annoying minion and then cannibalize his parts. Once Zara saw how something worked she could replicate it in her own body, making it her own. Even better her database was technically a part of her memories so when she Awoke she could instantly grow the needed parts within seconds; no need to worry about subspacing when it came to that!

Thus the Machine Empire's ability to speak was added to her programming and, as an added bonus, she'd engineered how they made monsters grow and found a way to not only do that but also reverse it, allowing her to grow and shrink at will without any of Jason's spells. Thus by the end of that loop she was able to swell up to Monster-Crushing Size or down to a much more manageable Person size.

Not that she'd been able to test it out too much, what with everyone thinking she was deactivated.

"I'm thinking it would be fun for you to be a part of the team."

Zara frowned at that. "Uh... really?"

"What? You don't want to be?"

"Oh, by all means, getting out more than just the occasional zord battle would be lovely DIE YOU STUPID GOOMBA! but it's not like I can just show up." She gestured at her metal form.

Jason smirked. "Let me tell you a tale about the Blue Centurion..."

~Nine Days later~

"Ah, what's the problem, rangers, cat got your tongue?" The tiger-based monster, wearing a red cocktail dress and sporting long blonde tresses, cackled as she cracked her whip. "Don't worry... Feline Fatale will have you screaming for mercy!"

"I don't think I'm old enough to hear this," Zack complained, holding his chest where the cat monster's plasma whip had struck. "Jay, we need to stop her!"

"I'm open to suggestions!" Jason stated.

"Here is one!" Feline Fatale cried out. "Submit or be dest-YYYYEMEEOOOOWWWWWW!" Red lightning struck the cat monster and caused her to fly back, stray bolts causing tiny explosions around her.

"What?" Trini said.

"What the?" Kim echoed.

"How did-" Billy began.

Jason merely smiled as their savior stepped forward, her metal fists planted on her hips. "Never fear, Rangers! I, The Scarlet Ranger, shall protect you!" With that Zara raced forward, summoning her battle staff and going at Rita's soon-to-be latest failure.

~An Hour Later~

"Aiaiai, another ranger!" Alpha exclaimed, circling around Zara. "How can this be?"

"Yeah Zordon, how is there another Ranger?" Kimberly asked.

Zack nodded. "And why does she look so different from us."

"Rangers," Zordon stated calmly, looking down at the new recruit, "while it is true that you are the protectors of earth that does not mean you are the only rangers that have been or ever will be. Long has the universe been protected by the Power Rangers and you are merely part of a greater fraternity of heroes." Zordon studied Zara for a moment, Jason standing right at her side with his helmet off. "Though I admit I am puzzled by your appearance. While you are connected to the morphing grid you are unlike any ranger I have ever encountered."

"Then allow me to explain, Zoltar," Zara said and Jason didn't know how she didn't start laughing right then and there; the two of them had decided that 'The Scarlet Ranger' would have a quirk of calling people by the wrong name. "I hail from the planet Pikachu, many light years from the farthest planet in your galaxy. My planet is a tiny one, much smaller than yours. In fact, were you to stand on it you would appear larger than any zord one could find on earth. The people of Pikachu, the Pikapikas, created their own rangers to fight the evil overlord Severus Snape, who invaded from a planet very similar to your own. To ensure they were not destroyed under foot brave Pikapika Rangers underwent a special process that bonded them forever with their Kagome Zords. I bonded with this form and became the Scarlet Ranger. When Snape was defeated we rangers, knowing that we could never again safely live on our planet and frolic and play with the gentle Voldemorts, decided to go our separate ways, seeking out other rangers and assisting them." She slammed her fist against her chest. "I swear that I will stand with you, Zoltar, and aid my fellow Rangers in battle. Rangers like Jaden, Tribble, Zork, Mabel, and Dipper!"

Zordon hummed a bit at this before nodding. "Very well, Scarlet Ranger... we welcome you to the team..." Alarms began to go off and Zordon looked at the viewing globe, which revealed a massive Feline Fatale rampaging through the city. "And not a moment too soon, it seems."

"But wait," Billy pointed out, "how can you be of assistance against such a gargantuan foe."

Jason and Zara shared a look.

~10 Minutes Later~

"Burn in the fires of justice!" Zara shouted, having transformed back into her dragon form and sized herself up to her 'normal' size. "For Pikachu!"

 **Loop 25**

"Oh, there must be some way to defeat those pesky rangers!" Rita wailed, marching about her Moon Palace's balcony in a huff. "Some monster or foe that can defeat them..."

"That is why you continue to fail," Zara declared before unleashing a Dark Pulse attack at Rita, sending her toppling to the ground. The Empress of Evil was powerful but it also turned out that 'Evil Space Witch' equaled Ghost/Psychic type in their baseline and Dark Pulse was highly effective. 'Huh, think I got a critical,' Zara thought as she looked at Rita's crumpled form, the villain looking like she'd been hit by a battering ram. "Never send a monster to do an Iron Dragon's job!" Rita made a go for her staff only to get another Dark Pulse to the face, causing her to screech and howl before her cries suddenly turned into a rattling gasp, her arm flying to the ground and her face, twisted in a silent scream, slamming down onto the cold stone. "Pathetic," Zara said with a scoff.

While Rita was a big deal in the baseline Zara and Jason were simply beyond her. Jason had more magic that Rita could ever hope to get and even forgetting about the Pink power coin and his various zords he'd collected he had begun the task of merging his 'Prime Morphers', as he called the Red Morpher from the Potter Loop and Gold Morpher from his Intense Loop, into his final, ultimate morpher. To do that he had taken His Intense Loop Gold Morpher and his Staff from the Virus Loop and merged them into one and then done the same thing with his Red Tyranno Morpher, Red Ape Morpher, and the Red Zeo Morpher. The Zeo crystals apparently continued to gain power even when looping or in a subspace pocket, meaning Jason was a big deal.

A big deal as in, "If he really wanted to he could wipe out the entire Alliance of Evil".

As for Zara he had taken her already considerable power from being both a Zord and a Pokémon and then merged her with an extra Red Zeo Crystal he'd snagged during his pranking loops. Zara's systems had spent the loop before last studying it (that had been an interesting 18 months) and now, much like her voice box and growing powers, it was forever a part of her, able to be grown within her the moment she awoke.

Thus Zara was running on a power source that made Serpenterra look like the Energizer Bunny.

"I am Zara, Queen of the Iron Dragons, and I will do what Rita Repulsa could not: I will break the Power Rangers." She summoned her battle staff and pointed it at Rita's minions. "Any questions?"

Goldar stood there for a moment... before dropping to his knees, the other members of Rita's court mimicking him.

"Thought so!"

~Two Weeks Later~

"You know, I liked it better when the evil overlords stayed on the moon!" Zack complained as Goldar and a squad of putties swarmed him.

"They just keep coming!" Kimberly cried out as she barely missed a shot one of Finster's newest mothers, a scissor-based monster called Snip-Snip, sent at her head.

"It seems that with Zara now in command Goldar and the putties have decided to reevaluate their strategy!" Billy called out, managing to take out one putty with ease

"Where is Jason?"

Zack gestured towards the edge of the rocky outcrop they were battling on. "That crazy dragon lady tackled him off the edge of the cliff!" They heard some shouts and clatter and then silence. "Geez, they must be going all out!"

Down the cliff face, in an easy to miss cave, Jason and Zara sat with a deck of cards, Jason still in his ranger outfit.

"Hit me," Zara said. Jason dealt her a card. "21! Suck it!"

Jason chuckled before cupping his hands over his mouth. "ARGH! AAAA!" He then took a pipe he'd pulled from his subspace and struck it against a rock. "Okay, your deal," he said in a quieter voice. "So, how long do you want to keep the charade up?"

"At least another 6 months. I've almost got the full Zeo Crystal uncovered and I want to get that pocketed before anything else."

"That will be great when the others Wake up. Plus I want extra if we can get the other zords looping too."

"Aw, but I want to be special!" Zara teased.

"You are already special," Jason said and Zara was glad that as a zord she couldn't blush.

"Besides," she quickly said, wanting to move on before things got awkward, "I want to also get the Moon Base cleaned up and set up... I want to pocket that thing before we loop again and I do not feel like having Rita Stink in my subspace."

"Hit me," Jason said, getting another card before motioning to stay. Zara drew and busted, sighing and crying out roars of frustration before passing the deck back to Jason. "So about a year you think?"

"Yeah. That gives us time to pocket it before Zedd shows up. Oh! Almost forgot!" Zara reached into her subspace and pulled out the Green Power Coin, the precious item wrapped in a plastic baggie. "Found some interesting stuff in Rita's room... going to wipe my memory banks of most of it but I nabbed this."

Jason's hand glowed and he easily purified the Coin with a bit of Miko Magic before letting it bond to him before tossing it into his subspace. "And that makes Red, Pink, and Green. Think I'll get Black next, let Zack be the leader. Maybe the zords will dance."

"We're using one of your mindless drones for that," Zara complained, Jason laughing at the thought of her dancing up a storm.

~One Year Later~

Today was the day. Zara had managed to get the Zeo Crystal from under the Moon Base and cut up, ready for when Jason's friends began looping. She'd cleared out most of the garbage and she'd flown Jason up so he could transfigure the entire palace into a snowglobe that she placed in her subspace. Goldar and Finster and the other minions had been quietly destroyed in Ranger battles, leaving only Zara left. She was ready to return to Earth. And that meant the Queen of the Iron Dragons needed to be defeated.

And she and Jason knew just how.

"We aren't going to give up!" Kim declared.

"We won't let you harm the Earth!" Trini shouted.

Zara let out a chortling laugh as she stared down the Rangers. "And just how will you stop me? I am immortal! All powerful! Unstoppable!"

"No," Jason said defiantly. "You have a weakness."

"Big talk from a little ranger!" Zara said, preparing to swell up to zord size.

"But it doesn't make it less true!" Jason said, stepping in front of his friends and pointing right at Zara. "I know your one weakness... compliments!"

"Yeah Jay, you-wait, what?" Zack looked to Billy. "Did he just..."

"Affirmative," Billy said, confused.

Zara laughed again but it sounded less confident before. "P-please! That is just... bluster..."

"Your armor looks nice today," Jason said.

Zara grasped her chest and let out a pained gasp.

"I really like that color of red on you. Really brings out your eyes."

"Stop!" Zara moaned in agony.

Jason took a step forward and dramatically declared, "I'm impressed by your leadership skills!"

"No! No!" Zara screamed, falling to her knees

"You have a lovely singing voice!"

"You monster!"

"Have you thought of being a model?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zara screamed, activating a portkey and a small flash bang so that it looked like she'd exploded. Jason had set the portkey to end up on his yacht that he'd unpocketed that morning and Zara was now sitting on the deck, grabbing one of the new novels she'd been dying to check out. The plan was for Jason to claim to go to the Peace Conference and then to simply disappear, the two of them spending the rest of the loop sailing.

Jason thrust his fist into the air. "And that's how we do it! Power Rangers!"

"What... what just happened?" Trini stammered.

 **Loop 26**

Zara blinked as she both awoke and Awoke, stretching and letting out a yawn before reaching up and tussling her frizzy hair.

She froze as what she'd just done sunk in.

"Wait..." she said slowly, pulling her hands forward and looking at the strands of slightly curly red hair. Eyes widening, she marveled at the locks for a moment before planting her palms on her soft, fleshy cheeks and letting out a small gasp before rushing over to the mirror in Jason's room and staring at herself.

The first thing she noticed was that she was tall. Maybe even a bit taller than Jason, though if so then only by half an inch. She had long deep red hair with two gold streaks running through it. Her face was slightly round but no where near being called chubby or heavy... just the right amount to keep her features from being harsh. Her eyes were baby blue with little flecks of gold, honoring both her T-rex and Dragon forms, and as those same eyes swept over her body she marveled at her muscular form. She'd seen Trini and Kim and Kat and Tonya and Aisha plenty of times and none of them could hold a candle to her. She flexed and smirked as her muscles danced... she was like an amazon given life.

"Didn't think I'd loop into being a human," she thought as she checked her Unawake memories. In this loop she was Zara Lynn Scott, a martial arts instructor and student at Angel Grove High. She was best friends with Kimberly, Trini, Zack, and Billy and all 5 of them were model students. There were some odd changes... it seemed that Trini was the brainiac of the group while Billy was really into meditation and relaxation. Kimberly was a dance nut and had even created a fighting style around her moves while Zack was training with hopes of joining the Men's Olympic Gymnastics Team. But otherwise they were the same people she knew from when Jason looped and just a week ago they had been made Power Rangers-

"JASON!" Zara cried out, backing away from the mirror. "Crap crap crap!" She hurried to get dressed, sending out a ping and getting one in response. "Okay, okay... can't teleport to him because I don't know magic... he might be able to teach me now if he has a wand that works for me. Didn't he say he and Harry raided Ollivanders during the war... focus! Focus! Dress, find Jason. Dress, find Jason."

Zara held up a bra and stared at it in horror.

"Aw crap, can't I just fight Serpinterra instead?"

~Four Hours Later~

"Sorry, sorry!" Zara cried out as she hopped out of the truck and sprinted to the fissure that normally housed her. Looking down into it she saw a familiar Tyrannosaurus head and a quick ping confirmed it was Jason. "It took me a while to figure out how to get dressed, what with never needing to do it before, and I don't know magic like you do… you can teach me magic now, right? Anyway, I can't apparate so I had to drive here and GEEZ is your truck hard to drive and don't worry I'm sure Mrs. O'Malley's dog is fine… Jason?"

The Red Ranger-turned-Zord emerged from the fissure and then slowly shrank down in size.

"Oh good, you can still use your magic. Wait… you aren't in the humanoid form… of course, you've never been the Thunderzord so you don't know how to shift to that form. Shoot, that will make things annoying for a while but I'll help you out. We'll have to go baseline though to ensure you do eventually get to be a Thunderzord." Zara began to pace. "Sorry, this is a bit overwhelming and I'm babbling… apparently I babble when I'm nervous, who knew! Huh, and we should see about getting you a Zeo Crystal after you go Thunderzord, so you can survive Rito's assault and aren't killed and replaced with a monkey. Or ape. Whatever. And hey, I can morph! Tyrannosaurus!" There was a flash and Zara was in a modified version of the Red Ranger costume, sporting a skirt like Kim did. "So cool. I am keeping this one for sure, totally get what you mean about the power coin feeling like it belongs with you. So, we are keeping this super baseline for a while, no jokes which is sad because I have this great idea where you try and woe Rita. Maybe next time. Anyway-"

It would be another 10 minutes before Zara realized that Jason, in this form, couldn't talk, lacking the Orbus upgrades they had given her.

 **Loop 27**

Jason sighed as he focused on his weight lifting. He'd Awoken a few minutes ago in the Juice Bar and searching his memories proved that this was a baseline loop (he'd been lucking out so far that things stayed close to the same but knew that wouldn't last forever) and that he'd been a ranger now for roughly 2 months, meaning that Tommy and the whole Evil Green Ranger thing was right around the corner. He'd taken a few moments to silently celebrate being human again; once they'd installed the Orbus upgrades things had been better, with him getting his own voice (except for the beginning when Zara had decided to make him sound Scottish… he'd purposely held back Pyramidius during her next fight as revenge), but being able to walk around as a human again was a god send.

And that was why he was in such a dark mood. Because if he was human… that meant Zara wasn't.

She had loved being human and attacked life with a zeal that shocked even him. She had tried new foods and taken up hundreds of hobbies, experiencing every little joy she could with a grin. Oh, she was still snarky and a bit wicked when it came to pranks but the zord-turned-human had loved life and being a part of it. In fact that had made her an amazing Ranger as she had fought ten times as hard to protect the world she loved and wanted to be a part of.

And now the loops had taken that away from her.

He had been working to try and figure out a way to let her blend in with the people of Angel Grove. Being the Scarlet Ranger had helped but she'd had to spend her off time at the Command Center and Jason knew that while Zordon was a good mentor he wasn't the best company for someone like Zara. She might have been an ancient zord but she had the heart and soul of a teenager and that after tasting a bit of freedom she wouldn't be happy going back to the way things were.

Jason sighed again and finished his reps. 'Maybe I can get Harry to help. There must be a spell or something-'

"Hey guys!" Kimberly called out, skipping over to where Trini and Zack were standing. "I want to introduce you to the new girl. She just moved to Angel Grove. Guys, this is Zara Fakename."

"Nice to meet you!" a decidedly human Zara said with a grin, Jason standing there slack jawed.

It took over an hour before Jason was able to get Zara alone, as all his friends seemed super interested in chatting with her, finding out about her life ('Oh, from Stone Canyon… really into dinosaurs… know karate…'). But finally he managed to pull her aside while the others dealt with Bulk and Skull's latest antics (Something about a pyramid scheme to make them rich involving apples and color-coded scarves) and was now glaring at the bemused teen.

"How?"

"How what?" Zara asked.

"How are you human?!" Jason hissed, gesturing at her.

Zara looked down and blinked. "I'm not human. Zord. This is baseline."

"No, zord would be giant and metal. You are small and-"

"Fun size?" Zara teased.

"Not metal."

"Actually I am," Zara said, holding up her hand. The flesh on her skin flickered like someone turning the pages of a book and her fingers turned into the same metal they were when she was the Dragon Thunderzord. "Biomechnical."

"…what?"

"It's no different than turning from the Rex to a Dragon. Couldn't do it before because I didn't know what being human felt like but now I know. You know, like how I can do this." She shifted and within seconds was in her Tyrunt form before returning to her Human-Zara form. "Pretty neat, huh? Opens up a ton of looping possibilities."

Jason stared at her, his eye twitched. "I am thrilled you don't need to hide anymore… just one question." 

"Yes?"

"Could I have done that too last loop?"

Zara smiled weakly as it dawned on her what he was saying. "Uh… I think I hear a putty attack, should totally check that out…" with that she fled.

"ZARA!"

 **Loop 28**

"Rangers, I wish to thank you for your hard work," Zordon declared. Jason tuned him out (if you've heard one Zordon speech you've heard them all) and focused on not smiling; when he'd Awoken a few days ago in this loop, occurring after Tommy had received the power boost that let him be the Green Ranger again, he'd come up with a prank and Zara had been all for it, mad only because she hadn't thought of it first. She'd headed off to get all set up for it and Jason hadn't seen her since, only getting the occasional ping that let him know she was okay. "The threat that Rita poses remains great but you-"

The Command Center shook and the rangers all pitched about for several moments before regaining their footing.

"Aiaiaiai! What was that?"

"Rita attacking?" Tommy asked.

"No, she can't breach the command center without Zordon's permission," Trini reminded them.

"Then what-"

"Daddy!"

The Rangers turned and Jason struggled not to snicker. Zara was dressed in a little girl's school dress, complete with pigtails and Mary Jane shoes. She'd altered her skin to look blue and she hurried over to Zordon's tube, hugging it tightly.

"Daddy! I finally found you!"

"I… I… that is…"

Jason tilted his head. Who knew Zordon could stammer?

"Aiaiaiai! Whoever are you?" Alpha proclaimed. "And you must stop hugging Zordon's tube, you'll get finger prints all over it!"

"I'm Zara of Eltar and this is my daddy, Zordon! I've been looking for him for so long but I finally found him!" Zara looked up at Zordon, eyes wet with tears. "Where did you go, daddy? You told me you were going to the store to get space cigarettes and then you never came back!" 

"I… I assure you you're not my daughter!"

Zara's lip trembled. "Is… is this because I have a lazy eye?" She threw back her head and let out a wail.

"Zordon, how could you?!" Kimberly proclaimed, going over and hugging Zara. "She's your daughter and just because she has a lazy eye doesn't mean you can talk to her like that!"

"She is not my daughter!"

"WAAAAAAAAAA!" Zara sobbed.

"That is messed up!" Zack declared. "My Cousin Curtis' dad walked out on them and it messed up the whole family. I've wanted to deck that man in the nose… maybe I should do that to you!" Tommy and Billy grabbed Zack before he could try and beat up the tube.

"DADDY HATES ME!" Zara sobbed as Trini and Kim consoled her, Jason just biting his fist to keep from laughing.

 **Loop 29**

"So… not baseline," Zara said, watching as the five Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers made their first debut… and then glanced over at Jason who was crouching beside her, the two of them hidden by a rock as the newly made Rangers fought against the putties.

"Nope," Jason said. "Was wondering when we'd hit one where I never got selected to be a Ranger. Apparently in this loop my dad got a job in Stone Canyon and we moved away when I was 8."

"So who is the Red Ranger here?"

"Richie."

"…who?" the zord asked.

"I honestly don't know. I have vague memories of a cardboard cutout in the juice bar that Ernie called Richie that Trini liked to stare at but nothing else." Jason shrugged as he watched the rangers fight. "They seem to be doing a good job though."

"So, vacation loop?" Zara asked. "We've done partial ones but never a full one."

"You can if you want… I have an idea I want to do that works perfectly for this loop."

"How pranky is this one?"

"Less pranky and more getting to play up a role I've been dying to try out ever since you did the Scarlet Ranger bit."

Zara nodded. "Cool. I'll stick around to watch but I think I'll focus on some projects I've been meaning to get back too. I still need to finish knitting that blanket I started 2 loops ago and I should really see about cleaning out the rest of the Moon Palace…"

~A few months later~

"You will all fall before the might of the glorious Rita!" the wicked Green Ranger declared, easily knocking away the teens as they tried to swarm him. No matter what they did, be it a kick from Billy or a punch from Trini or Richie just standing there being...uh... Richie... the evil Ranger just would not go down. They were soon lying on the stone ground of the quarry where the Green Ranger had lured them. "There is nothing you can do to stop us! No one can stand before the might of my Empress-AARRGGHHH!" The Green Ranger cried out as bolts of energy struck him, easily damaging him even with his Dragon Shield. The wicked villain went flying backwards and landed in a heap, the Putties that had been sent to back him up staring in surprise as their commander was easily knocked out of a fight he had moments earlier been dominating.

"Oh, I don't know about that," a cool, smooth voice declared.

"What?" Trini exclaimed.

"Whoa!" Zack declared.

"Inconceivable!" Billy cried out.

"No way!" Kim said.

Richie just lay there.

The rangers turned and stared up to the top of the quarry, taking in their savior. He was dressed in a ranger outfit as well, the body black with golden armor covering his calves, biceps, and chest. Over his shoulders he wore a shield much like the wicked Green Ranger's, though his was more round. His helmet, rather than an animal motif, was a strange, abstract shape that none of the rangers could place. Still, it was clear he was one of them, connected to the Morphing Grid.

The stranger was leaning against a large bolder, the weapon he'd used to strike the Green Ranger held out. His head was turned towards them, staring down at their emerald foe, and it was clear from his body language he'd judged the Green Ranger and found him wanting.

"I'd say there is one Power Ranger on Earth who can take you down."

"How dare you strike at me, the envoy of the great and powerful Rita!"

"Hmmm... aren't you boastful. Well, if you must know..." The new ranger suddenly sprang forward, easily landing between the fallen rangers and their dark foe, his body loose and tension free as he stared down the Green Ranger. "I'm everything you'll never be."

The Green Ranger growled and with a cry of "Zi-yeah!" launched himself at the newcomer only for him to effortlessly dodge the strike.

"Faster," the new ranger taunted before with a flippant wave of his hand blocked the next strike. "Smarter." The Green Ranger went for a kick but the new Ranger caught him by the ankle and threw him to the ground. "Stronger." He approached and the Green Ranger leapt up and tried for a flurry of punches, the newcomer not even flinching as he easily stopped each one. "I am your superior...Tommy."

"How..." the Green Ranger whispered.

"Tommy?" Zack said.

"No way!" Kim gasped.

"Not possible!" Trini declared

"Him?" Billy whispered.

Richie… just stared.

The mystery ranger grabbed the Green Ranger by the throat and pulled him in close. "Tell your mistress that I'm not like the other rangers she faced. Either she leaves now or I will end her, you, and anyone else goes. Now… run along, errand boy. Deliver my message. Tell her the Onyx Ranger stands in her way now."

The Green Ranger stared him down for several moments before being teleported away, leaving the Rangers to stare at their savoir.

"Thank you…" Kim whispered.

"Don't thank you. Your fates are tied to mine."

Trini frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I've said too much as it is." Before the Rangers could respond the Onyx Ranger seemed to twist before disappearing with a CRACK!.

~Several Days Later~

"All this will belong to Empress Rita! Once I and my Zord end the Power Rangers… forever!"

The Dragonzord that the Green Ranger was standing on let out a screeching roar, challenging the Rangers to show themselves.

"How are we going to defeat that?" Kim asked.

"We have to try! Right Richie?" Zack asked.

Richie… kind of nodded. Or maybe it was just the wind blowing on him and causing him to rock back and forth slightly.

"Zordon, we're going to need to zords-" Trini began only for the Dragonzord to stumble back as lightning struck down from the suddenly black sky and sent him stumbling back, pitching the Green Ranger from his perch.

"Who dares!?" Tommy roared.

"I do," the Onyx Ranger said, everyone turning as he revealed his zord: a massive golden pyramid. "I and the might of Pyramidas will show you how meaningless and small you truly are!"

The other rangers could only watch in shock as the Onyx Ranger easily took out the Dragonzord and forced the Green Ranger to flee once more in the face of his might.

"Man, that was amazing!" Zack declared as the five original rangers ran up to the Onyx Ranger, who had recalled his zord and was now standing stoically on top of a building, his face turned towards the horizon. "You took him out like nothing."

"My zord is years ahead of his… in every sense of the world."

Billy stepped forward. "But why continue fighting him on your own? If we were to unite-"

"That can never happen," the Onyx Ranger said. "I can not risk the timeline…"

"Timeline?" Trini asked.

"I've said too much. Goodbye rangers."

~Three Months Later~

Kim stepped forward, holding her arms out wide as the Onyx Ranger, once more having moved to help them, tried to make yet another quick and dramatic disappearance. "No! Not this time! We've fought side by side… we've proven that we can stand with you… please…" Kim reached out and touched the Onyx Ranger's arm, "let us in."

The gold-and-black ranger turned his head away from you. "I don't know… the risk…"

"Please… take it," Kim whispered, the other rangers moving to back her up.

"Very well. I… am from the future… and I am your son."

Kim smiled behind her mask, reaching up with one hand and placing it on the Onyx Ranger's helm. "I knew it."

The Onyx Ranger sighed. "I come from a dark timeline. One where the Green Ranger defeated you all; he was a thorn in your side for years. You died, along with my father Eugene, on the day of my birth. I was taken in by my father's greatest friend, Farkas, who taught me-"

Kim yanked her hand away as if the Onyx Ranger had suddenly burst into flames. "Farkas… Farkas Bulkmeier?"

"Yes," the Onyx Ranger said dramatically. "Uncle Bulk told me all the time of the great love story between you and my father-"

"Eugene… Skull!? You are Skull's son?" Kim trembled. "I… I marry Skull? I sleep with Sk…uuugh… ugghh…"

"Kim?" Zack asked.

"I'm… I'm going to be sick…. UGH! GUH!"

"Take off your helmet! Take off your helmet!" Trini shouted a few seconds too late.

"Blarrggg! Gah! Gurag! Gurg!"

Hidden nearby Zara snickered. "You sick bastard."

 **Loop 30**

Jason just watched as his fellow rangers defeated the Putties… by mambo dancing.

"Seriously, this might be the worst loop ever," he muttered.

 **Loop 31**

Jason Awoke in utter pain.

He let out a cry and tried to bolt up, only for a pair of hands to hold him down onto the rough, lumpy mattress he was lying on. Struggling to open his eyes he found that only the left would open and reaching up his hand shook as he realized the reason he couldn't see anything out of his right was that it was gone, with only gauze hiding the empty socket. Swallowing Jason lifted his hand up, staring at the scarred skin that marred his wrist and fingers before letting it drop back down to his side.

"Are you Awake and feeling Loopy?" Zara said, Jason realizing it was her that was holding him down. She looked older than she normally did when they usually woke up, her hair cut much shorter and dirt and grime clinging to her face. She was wearing a variation of the Red Ranger outfit she had worn in her Human loop, only this one seemed more… ceremonial. "Jason?"

"Awake and Loopy? Where did you get that one Zara?" Jason asked and the Zord-Turned-Cybernetic Humaniod let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Apparently it's a common thing for Loopers to say on other branches, to let others know they are looping. If you are an anchor you say you are awake and anchored and if you're just a looper you ask for an anchor."

"Clever," Jason said, then groaned and clutched at his chest, feeling more gauze and wrappings around his torso. "Why do I feel like I was hit by every ship in the Machine Empire?"

Zara sighed. "Jason… this isn't baseline. Not anymore. I've been Awake for a few years now, watching over you. You, or this version of you, has been in a coma for a long time and… things are bad."

"How bad?" Jason asked, brow furrowing as he felt the scar on his chest just to the right of his heart.

"We made a mistake," a second voice said, one that was… familiar. "A terrible mistake, Jason. And now I need you to correct it and save not just this loop but your entire branch of the World Tree."

Jason slowly turned and his eye went wide before narrowing. "Rita…"

"No… not for a very long time," his oldest foe said. Jason looked her over and realized that she was different from the Rita he knew. There was no mocking smile or madness-filled eyes. Her voice wasn't the ear-bleeding screech that still haunted his nightmares some nights. Rather that her hair being up in massive demonic horns this Rita wore her hair down in long thick dreadlocks, a pure white like her sagely robes. She smiled kindly as she saw Jason truly take her in and she set down a tiny wand with golden opera glasses attached to it. "Once I was known as Rita Repulsa, back when I was under the control of Dark Specter. But when Andros, the Red Space Ranger, destroyed Zordon's tube, I was freed of that corruption and became the keeper of good magic. In our baseline I repented by becoming the Empress of All Good Magic and eventually I ascended, becoming the Admin of your odd little branch, so I might watch over all of you and aid you as I could."

"If you ascended… who is it that I…"

"Pranked?" the Mystic Mother asked with a gentle laugh. "A shade, as it were. A replica of my self that came into being during the same event that saw my ascension and your branch coming into being. I have enjoyed watching you defeat my darker self time and time again. A few times I have stepped in myself… though thankfully not the loop when you placed me in the sun." Rita's smile fell. "But I am afraid this loop will not be filled with laughter. As I stated I made a terrible mistake and now I must ask you to once more stop the damage."

"What's happened?" Jason asked as Zara helped him sit up.

Zara and Rita shared a look before the Mystic Mother spoke.

"Lord Drakkon is looping."

~MC~MC~MC~MC~

Author's Notes: And we come to it at last… next chapter I explain how Jason become the anchor, how the Mystic Mother can be an admit when the Ranger Branch already has an admin… and Lord Drakkon makes his appearance.


	8. Chapter 8

**Loop 31 Continued**

"It began with The Crash. An attempt to fix the Mega Man branch resulted in code failure throughout Yggdrasil. Some loopers lost data about their past. Others became Travelers, rarely returning to their home branch and never near other Loopers. A few who should have been able to loop will now not be able to do so and some that should have never Awaken found themselves looping for no reason. But one of the most startling after effects was to this branch: after the crash it was discovered by Skuld, the senior debugger of Yggdrasil, that this branch had been copied."

"Copied?" Jason asked. "Like a computer file?"

"Exactly. This branch's baseline had been replicated in full. No loopers, no anchors, running just as the original branch had before Tommy was Awoken and been made anchor. We have encountered similar things on a smaller scale… beings from different branches who appear to be physical duplicates of each other, for example. Han Solo and Indiana Jones. Owen Grady, Emmett, and Star Lord. So forth. And the original branch had alternate realities where things were very similar… while also being radically different. It is how we could have the Original Jason Scott as the Red Ranger in one section of the branch and on another Prince Geki took the role. But this was something far different. Somehow I had ascended and the entire baseline, pre-Yggdrasil's error, had been duplicated. It was decided by the Admin of the original branch, Hachiman, to place me in charge of your branch and watch over it; since it was a duplicate it was felt that it would be safe for me to test my skills first there, before giving me new, original branches that had just begun looping. I was given instructions and training by Hachiman, as well as a basic guide on how things had gone for him with the original branch, and sent off. I began my work just as he had with the original branch and Awoke Tommy Oliver and made him the Anchor.

"But I had made a grave mistake."

The Mystic Mother sighed, looking down at her hands. "I believed that this new Tommy would be much like his main universe counterpart: overcoming the tragedy of his beginnings as a Ranger to become one of the greatest to ever wield the power. A leader and a hero who would redeem himself a thousand times over and stand as not only an example for Rangers all over but for all those who had fallen to darkness and wished to return to the light. The most welcomed of all Rangers, so that if he came to any team they would happily join him in whatever task he held. I saw awakening him as a chance to redeem myself as well, to finally make up for the last of my mistakes. I could guide him as I should have, to be the mentor I should have been, had Dark Specter never corrupted me. But just because he looked like the Tommy I had come to know and respect… did not mean he was him."

Jason, still sitting on the bed with Zara supporting him, looked at Rita and asked, "He succumbed to Sakura Syndrome, didn't he?"

"After the first few loops, yes. He relived his life a few times, either waking up as the Green Ranger or the White Ranger, and behaved much as I expected. I was preparing to send him into his first fused loop, so he would understand what was happening… when he just…" the Mystic Mother shut her eyes, her entire body slumping in remorse. "I talked with the Admin of the DC Branch, Morpheus, and he mentioned something he'd heard once, concerning the Joker, that I have come to realize applies to Tommy. Perhaps it's because he was having a bad day. Perhaps someone looked at him the wrong way. Perhaps the Crash affected him in ways I do not understand. Perhaps… he decided it was just time to let go.

"I don't know what happened to Tommy… after one loop, when he awoke just after Rita's spell was broken, he fled. My non-Admin self found him and convinced him that she would bring peace to the world and he joined her once more. They began to attack cities, one at a time and still I held out hope that this was just a prank, a joke. Some loopers do that, where they pretend to be evil and just do it for laughs, like you two did with the Iron Dragon Queen. But Tommy wasn't pretending. I knew that the moment he murdered his Jason in cold blood and took the power of the White Ranger and merged it with his own… then did it again when he looped. And again. And again. Each time getting more vicious and vile. One time he forced his Jason to watch as he assault his parents, mocking him as he brutalized that Jason's mother. Another time he forced his Trini, Zack, Billy, and Kimberly to kill Jason themselves or he'd murder their parents, laughing as they tore him apart with their bare hands even as they sobbed. One time he just got a nuke and blew them all up. He just kept going."

"Why didn't you toss him into a punishment loop?" Jason asked. "Harry told me you guys do that to Loopers who decide to break the rules."

"Because even putting one in such a loop is dangerous. They learn and grow. They add knowledge and skills. There has been talk of throwing MLEs to the Original Seven but what if something goes wrong and they are killed… or worse? Tommy could trick Harry and learn magic that could defeat him. Or moves from Naruto that would make him far more powerful. He could realize how to do the subspace pockets… we've been lucky he hasn't learned how to keep the powers he steals and that each loop he has to start all over again. Or he could begin crashing Loops on purpose…"

"And that would be bad," Zara added. "From what I've learned while waiting for you to wake up… crashing the loop causes Yggdrasil to act up. Badly."

"We've nearly lost branches because of a looper constantly crashing the branch, over and over. If we did that to Tommy…" the Mystic Mother sighed. "There had been talk of just keeping him looping but that brings risks. We usually can control when a fused Loop happens but sometimes they just occur without warning. And to make matters worse… Lord Drakkon, as this new Tommy has taken to calling himself, has begun experimenting with breaking through to other dimensions. While he might be able to only able to access the dimensions of your branch… there is always the risk he could burst into the hub… and from there all of Yggdrasil would be open to him. Or worse he could ascend… and the powers of an Admin in his hands?" the Mystic Mother shuddered.

"No, something else had to be done. I met with Hachiman but he couldn't solve the problem either. We had to admit defeat and go to Skuld. I admitted my mistake and she eventually hit upon a solution. Not a good one… but the only one we had. We didn't want to risk bringing the Original Tommy in, as there was the risk that Lord Drakkon be able to access his powers and abilities, calling forth his zords and weapons and adding them to his own arsenal. We also didn't know if what had happened to Drakkon would infect the Original Tommy. We also worried about bringing in the likes of Prince Phillip or Skye or Ziggy, as they, while powerful, would only add their powers to his, should they fall. Thus it was decided to open another dimension within Lord Drakken's branch, one that was the same as the original branch and his, and recruit a ranger from there. We had done so in the past, which had allowed for the creation of the Ivan Ooze dimension, so it was an easy matter. Selecting our champion was as well. Tommy was out, as once more there was the chance of the powers being taken from him. You were next, Jason. Drakkon always kills your alternate self first, as he knows you are strong enough to stop him. You had also accessed multiple powers, unlike your friends. You were the perfect choice.

"I made you an anchor and then watched you, making sure you didn't succumb like Drakkon did. Sent you to Harry for a fused loop while Drakkon continued to rampage in his dimension. You worried me briefly when you decided to try to baseline everything but you soon began to loop as I expected. Zara was unexpected but when I realized she was gaining enough sentience to loop I knew that she would make a perfect partner to you and I linked her looping to you, making her an unofficial anchor. It was also something different from the Original and Drakkon loops, a new variable. I then let you two loop and grow stronger, preparing for when it was time for you to face Drakkon."

Jason looked at his damaged body. "If you want me to defeat him why did I Wake up feeling like crap?"

"Drakken pushed up the timetable," Zara answered. "There is another Looper who is Stealth Looping in Drakkon's dimension…"

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Skull," the Mystic Mother said.

"…seriously?"

"He's matured and grown. I came to him once he began looping and explained what was going on. In many loops Bulk is killed and he was willing to help if it saved his friend." 

Zara nodded, stepping back so Jason could see her outfit. "He's a Red Tyrannosaurus Sentry; got me this outfit. By the way, I'm going to modify my regular suit to this… with a few changes. Already getting rid of the cape…"

"I'll give you a fused loop with The Incredible," the Mystic Mother said. "Edna Mode can help."

Jason rubbed his chin. "So Skull gave us a heads up?"

"Yes," the Mystic Mother said, sobering. "Drakkon has accelerated his plans and last loop he came closest to break the barriers between dimensions. We need to take him down this loop and thus I was forced to fuse your world with this one. I Awakened Zara to retrieve you after Drakkon dealt the fatal blow to this world's Jason and then Awoke you when you were healed enough."

"I can be more so," Jason said, reaching into his subspace and pulling out some potions. "Thank you Prof. Snape," he muttered as he uncorked one potion and shuddered as he already felt the effects take hold, his body beginning to knit itself up. He grabbed another one and downed that before sitting down, rolling his head back as he growled in pain, feeling his eye begin to rebuild; why Mad-Eye had never used such a potion Jason didn't know. "So… how is this going to work? Am I stuck looping again and again into this world, stopping Drakkon each time?"

The Mystic Mother smiled gently and Jason was surprised to find that despite this being Rita he was growing comfortable around her. "No. We would never be that cruel. We have inserted a program within you that will help us fix many of our problems. We can't stop Drakkon from looping, that just isn't possible, and this part of reality needs an anchor, same as yours." 

"So we need to make Drakkon no longer the anchor," Jason said, grimacing as another shot of pain went through his body.

"Exactly. When you defeat him, and I'm sorry to tell you that you'll need to kill him, our program will open. Skull will become the new anchor for this reality and Drakkon will become a looper only. I will do what I can to keep him unawake for as long as possible and when he does awake keep his loops as far apart as possible. He will still awake but that will allow you, Zara, Skull, and the others I awaken to grow strong enough that he will no longer be such a threat. He will be an MLE we must watch out for but he will no longer go unopposed."

Jason nodded. "Risky but we have no choice. How many loops has he had?"

"578."

"Damn," Jason muttered. "He's had that long to develop his skills?"

"But you've been able to do what he hasn't," Zara told him. "Yes, he's had centuries, millennia, to perfect his martial arts and get used to his powers… but you have powers he's never seen before."

Jason nodded before leaning back. "Then we take him down. Fast and hard. And we do it in a way Zordon would never have approved of. This world has been beaten down, again and again. Even if they can't remember it. I want to give them a win. I want to show them that there is something to hope for. Maybe then, somehow, even after they loop something of what happens next will stay with them… and give them strength for the next time he tries to take control of the earth." 

The Mystic Mother smiled at that. "And that… is why I was right to choose you."

~M~L~P~R~ 

Lord Drakkon sat on his throne, deep in thought.

He didn't want to be on his throne. No, this was merely a show of power to the masses and it annoyed him to no end that he had to do such things. The peons should fear him no matter where he was. They shouldn't need to see him to know their place… such games were useless and he wondered if perhaps he should do something grand to remind them of his strength. The problem was there was nothing he could do. Destroying a town without reason would prove nothing, with him ending up doing little more than giving him a temporarily boosting his standing… and driving more to join the damn Coinless Rebels. They so did love to take any action he made, for the good of the world, and trying to portray him as a monster. He had ended war and brought humanity into a new world. He had destroyed Rita, who had claimed she cared about the world but he had known was a liar and a fraud. And yet they all hated him. Every time, no matter how many lives he lived, they hated him.

Sometimes he killed them all. Others would take their place. Rocky and Adam swearing vengeance for him killing someone they knew. Tonya and Aisha finding each other and trying to rally support. Kat one time became his greatest foe and their battles lasted for decades before she killed them both in a great explosion. Once it had been little Justin who had fled to space and returned with an army of Rangers who put him down but only after he killed a third of their forces and lost his entire army of Sentries.

Sometimes he was forced to do as Rita had done to him, to show them that the darkness was nothing to fear… they either tried to usurp him or broke free and declared vengeance against them. That always bothered him. He wanted them to be like Finster-5, his trusted Second-In-Command. He tried again and again to make Kimberly his queen and it never worked; keeping her under the spell meant she was merely a puppet, his loyal Ranger Slayer who did all he commanded without question, and releasing her always saw her swearing vengeance, sometimes succeeding and sometimes dying in his arms. He'd tried it with Trini and she did the same, cursing his name at one point and another castrating him in their bed before slitting her own throat before he could do so. He tried to swear off the fairer sex and make Zack his ally. Same result. Again and again. Once he'd thought he had the perfect plan and kidnapped Connor, Kira, Ethan, and Trent while they were young, raising them to be his heirs. He'd taught them how to fight, how to rule… and then they'd turned on him, going after him like vicious wolves, killing him even as he maimed them and gave them mortal wounds.

'This world… this pathetic world. It is filled with idealists and followers. None willing to stand with me, side by side!' He gripped the arms of his chair and scowled. He needed allies. Finster-5 did all he could but constantly ending up back at the beginning, again and again, meant that even with him Drakkon found himself having to start all over. 'Starting over… with a ticking clock.' He ran a finger along the pulsing black veins that throbbed under his skin. He explained to Finster-5 about how he kept repeating his life and that if he did not die by anyone's hands his powers killed him before he reached his 45th birthday. Sometimes less. It all depended on how much power he took. He only reached 40 if he combined the white and green power and any more would hasten his death. It was Finster-5 who had complained that he could do so much more if they only had more help.

Drakkon sighed. 'I am the man with all the time in the world and none at all. Every second brings me closer to death and even though I get to start again all I keep his my knowledge!' He slammed his fist down, his sentries barely flinching as they were used to his moods. 'If only I could find a way to cure myself! Or to bring with me my powers! So much time wasted consolidating my strength!' He had to always wait for Zordon to create the White Ranger Powers before he could do anything, which meant he had to spend sometimes several years reliving his life exactly the same. With just the Dragon Powers he was defeated by the Coinless or Rangers from Beyond the Stars unless he completely hid himself away. It took both sets of powers to ensure he was able to rule… and they killed him all the same. 'I must find more! The Black Brachio powers always seem to remain out of my grasp and my attempts to gain the Zeo Crystal are doomed the moment I return to the past! Damn that barrier!'

That was why he wanted to leave his throne and return to Finster-5's workshop. Every time he returned to the past he brought with him the knowledge of their failures and his most trusted friend swore that eventually they would figure out the secret to journey to other worlds. Worlds with power that would heal him. That would make his quest for control go faster. Find allies who would be worthy to stand with him. And maybe, just maybe… end the cycle that his life had become and let him finally see his dream come true.

He had kept this lifetime much the same, with few new ideas when it came to establishing his kingdom. Kimberly was the Ranger Slayer, still hunting the Coinless and he knew that soon he would need to end the spell and see if this time she would accept him and his goal. Oh, he took his pleasures with her but it wasn't satisfying when she did so because she was mindlessly loyal. He wanted her to come to him without a command to be his Lady. He had created his armies and the Black Dragon stood ready if he needed to face a great threat. But soon he would need to do something different. Try something new. He had heard rumors of a secret academy of Ninjas…

The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps broke him from his thoughts and Lord Drakkon turned his attention to the rapidly approaching Sabertooth Sentry… and Finster-5.

Drakkon leaned forward. Normally he would not be pleased with one of his soldiers rushing to him in a panic, as it made it seem as if there was something that was beyond his control. But Finster-5 being with this one? That was… troubling.

Falling to his knees the Sabertooth Sentry bowed his head. "My lord… the Coinless have begun an assault on the palace forces."

"Zack and Trini are being bold today, I see. Still, a benefit for us. Send out our main attack-"

"My lord… the main attack force has been deployed. The Coinless are defeating them with little loss on their side."

Drakkon frowned. The only time he lost so many soldiers was when the Coinless got help from space and his long range sensors had detected no such arrival. Still, there was a chance they had gotten help. There were always rumors of other Rangers… the Samurai Rangers tended to be pesky but he left them alone as they dealt with that drunken fool Master Xandread. But occasionally they would decide to try and face him… He sighed and waved his hand dismissively. "Summon the Ranger Slayer. It is her duty to deal with such pests after all."

The Sabertooth Sentry trembled and Finster-5 stepped forward. "My Lord… the Ranger Slayer has been freed from the Bow of Darkness and is now assisting the Coinless."

Drakkon raised an eyebrow at that. "She managed to break free?"

"No, my lord… she was freed."

Not by the Coinless, Drakkon knew that. They had tried many times to free her, when they learned who she was, and always failed. It took the power of a Ranger to destroy a Darkness Weapon.

"How?"

"You… must see for yourself," Finster-5 said and Drakkon, for the first time in years, heard FEAR in his friend's voice.

Taking up his helmet Drakkon marched forward, snapping it on as he approached the balcony of his palace and stared down at the newly made battlefield. His army lay scattered, as if the hand of God had slammed down and smited them, and the Coinless army, far larger than he had expected in this lifetime, stood at the ready. Yet it was one figure who stood alone, at the head of the fools that tried to deny Drakkon his dream, that drew his attention. The only one of his friends that he never tried to bring to his side, for he knew that he, and he alone, would resist him to the bitter end. The one he killed each and every time.

"Jason," Drakkon whispered before leaping down from the balcony, not even bothering to make a grand dramatic entrance. With anyone else he'd have marched to meet them, let them tremble and wait. But him? No, he would face him now.

"Tommy. Or is this the part where you tell me 'That name has no meaning to me' and that you are going to take me to your master to complete my training?"

"You've gained a sense of humor in your death," Drakkon said coolly as he marched towards Jason, his guards and Finster-5 rushing to join him, the monster-maker using the jets he'd installed to allow him to fly and the Sentries rushing for the stairs. "Tell me… how did you survive? I remember taking that eye."

Jason tapped belong his regrown eye. "Magic."

"Hmmm," Drakkon said, looking Jason up and down. "Your little army seems to have taken out mine. I'm almost impressed."

"Not my army. Just me. I even had Zara hang back. She's the Scarlet Ranger back there." He pointed over his shoulder and Drakkon took in the odd Tyrannosaurus Sentry that stood next to Kimberly, who was still in her Ranger Slayer uniform. The Scarlet Ranger held a staff similar to the common Sentry staff except it was it was black instead of red. The helmet had a bit of gold along the top, creating a 5 point short crest. The cape had been replaced by a white feathery collar that wrapped around the back of her neck and shoulders, adding a bit of regalness to her uniform. The white diamonds on the chest were the same but along her arms were golden orange diamonds and her gloves were red as well. She had on a skirt but it was rather short, so not to keep her from battling. She towered over the shorter Kim and even with her helmet on Drakkon knew she was glaring at him.

"And my Ranger Slayer?"

"You mean Kim? I purified her of the darkness you infected her with. I'll have to spend a bit helping to cure the mental scars you gave her but she'll live a long, happy life without your evil ruining her."

"Bold and arrogant. You already assume you are going to leave here alive." Drakkon drew forth the remains of Saba and held it up. "I've killed you before, Jason. And this time you have no power."

"Oh… I wouldn't know about that." And with that Jason pulled out a golden morpher from behind his back. "It's morphin' time."

There was a blast of light… and everything Drakkon knew was turned on its head.

Somehow… Jason had merged the powers of the Red Ranger and the Zeo Gold Ranger.

His helmet was similar to the Scarlet Ranger's only there was more black and gold and the crest was bigger, looking more like a crown. Much of the white on Jason's uniform had been replaced with black and he wore over his altered Red Ranger outfit a modified version of the Gold Ranger's shield. There were gold bands on his arms and upon his calves and his boots and gloves began with such adornments. In his hands he held a transformed Power Sword with the hilt and crossguard now merged with the Power Staff to create a two-handed great sword. He could feel the power radiating off of Jason and Drakkon knew that, after all his many lifetimes, he'd finally found a foe that could challenge him.

But he would fall like the rest.

"And what do you call yourself? The Crimson Ranger? The Golden Ranger? King Tyranno perhaps?"

"Nothing so grand. I am the Red Legacy Ranger and today I will end the threat you pose to the universe, once and for all."

"You will try," Drakkon said simply before rushing forward. "Kiai!" He lashed out at Jason only for the Legacy Ranger to match his blow and easily parry it before going into his own flourish. The two began to alternate trading kicks and punches with sword swipes, moving about the courtyard of his grand palace. Drakkon could see how Jason had managed to defeat his army, as his skills were far beyond where they should have been. Death had taught him how to fight and Drakkon was forced to actually step up his game and put effort into his attacks in order to actually match his former friend.

At one moment the two of them clashed with their swords so hard the weapons flew into the air and the two began to trade a series of rapid fire strikes. Drakkon was struck with a memory of when he'd first fought Jason at the martial arts competition, back when he had been a naïve fool, and he found himself smiling as he found himself challenged. He hadn't become so bored that he had begun to create enemies during his repeated lives, just so he'd have someone to fight, but he knew he had been getting close and Jason scratched at an itch he hadn't known he'd had. The two of them caught their blades and engaged again, slamming into each other before the two of them flipped away.

"Good… you are very good," Drakkon complimented. "But you won't be able to win. This is merely a fraction of my power."

"Is that something villains have to say? Is it required of you?"

"Cute," Drakkon said before deciding to quiet Jason's boasts. He had let him feel like he had a chance… now it was time to strip away his confidence, layer by layer, punch by punch. He rushed at Jason and his punches were faster and his blows harder and he felt the idealic fool began to bend under his assault. His parries were getting sloppy, his counters taking longer to begin in response to the strikes Drakkon was sending at him. Soon he wouldn't even be able to match him and then Drakkon would begin to dismantle him. "I must thank you for this, Jason. Maybe now the Coinless will finally fall when they see their resurrected Savior die at-"

Jason raised his hand… and it burst into blue-white light. He chopped at Drakkon's arm… and the master of the Green and White Power Coins howled as he felt fire fill his veins He stumbled back only for Jason to ignite his sword with the same power and lash out, cutting through Drakkon's suit and leaving a dark line of blood and exposed skin. The overlord gasped as the edges of the wound hissed and attempting to touch it only made his fingers feel like he'd plunged them into boiling water.

"How did you…" Drakkon asked only for Jason to suddenly vanish with a crack. He looked about only to howl when a burning arrow made of the same blue-white light pierced through his shoulder. He turned to find Jason high above him, wielding the Pink Power Bow and sniping at him. Drakkon swung Saba, defecting the next few blasts but he could tell that the blow had crippled his left arm and left it nearly useless. "Coward! Face me-" Another crack and suddenly Jason was in front of him, sweeping his legs out from under him before spinning his sword.

"Sectumsempra."

Drakkon cried out. It was as if he'd been cut by a hundred thin knives. They didn't burn like the blue-white fire but it was enough to leave him gasping and in pain. He'd known pain for a while, thanks to his powers slowly killing him, but this was different. A foe hadn't hurt him in ages… in lifetimes! And yet Jason… this Legacy Ranger… was taking him apart!

"I… I don't know how you got this power… but I will make it mine!"

"I got it thanks to friends. Things you used to have before you decided that power and greed were more important than friendship."

"Friendship?" Drakkon taunted. "I call it weakness."

"You would." 

The overlord laughed even as he struggled to get up. "If you care about your friends so much… then save them!" With that he brought the Dragon Dagger to his mouth and blew out a familiar tune. From behind his palace the Black Dragon Zord arose and took aim at the Coinless, who cried out in horror at the sight of the massive Dark Zord. "Surrender and I'll let them live, Jason."

"No, you won't," the Legacy Ranger said.

"No, I won't," Drakkon confirmed. "You'll all die."

"I don't think so," his former friend said without a sign of fear. "So concerned with titles. Emperor. Lord. Master. There is only one that matters today." Jason nodded towards the group behind him before turning to face Drakkon. "Long live the Queen." 

Drakkon watched as the Scarlet Ranger raced forward, then suddenly grew absolutely massive, her form twisting until she took the form of a gigantic brick-colored tyrannosaurus. Unlike Jason's old zord though this beast was flesh. The crest for her helm remained on her face as did the feathery collar. She let out a roar that shook the palace and then charged, moving far faster than she should have been able to with her bulk, and struck the Black Dragon in the chest, causing the metal that made up his outer shell crumpling. Drakkon's zord was based on absorbing energy from the morphing grid but the transformed Scarlet Ranger no longer seemed to have any power to take and the blast just bounced off her skin as it would the humans when they were caught in the wave of energy. The massive t-rex raised her head and roared and Drakkon watched, eyes widening, as meteors fell from the sky and tore through his zord, sending it to the ground. Before he could command it to rise the Scarlet Ranger bent down and tore into it with her sword-like teeth, tearing out the core and rendering it fallen and defeated, the cheers of the Coinless heralding her victory as she lifted her head and let out a roar that shook Drakkon's tower.

"You're running out of options," the Legacy Ranger said casually.

"Not all of them!" Finster-5 shouted, pulling out a dagger made from the shattered remains of Zordon's tube and moving to rush the Legacy Ranger-

-only for one of his Sentries to stab Finster-5 in the back with his Z Staff, sending the monster maker to the ground. The other Red Sentry was too shocked to defend himself before the rogue killed him with a slash to throat and the Sabertooth Sentry fell to a blow to the gut. The rogue sentry stepped forward and ripped off his helmet before kicking Finster-5 onto his back.

"For Bulk," Skull hissed before driving the blade into Finster-5's skull.

The Legacy Ranger stared down at the pole-axed Lord Drakkon. "Let's compare where we stand. I defend the earth. I stand with my friends. You wanted to be a tyrant and now you're broken and all alone." 

"I am saving the world!" Drakkon roared. "I never drove you away! You turned your back on me!"

"Because of this," the Legacy Ranger said darkly. "Because you betrayed everything we believed in. Everything you believed in. Everything you once were."

"I was never one of you." 

"You were. You were the greatest of us."

"…you know," Drakkon whispered in shock.

"I do." The Legacy Ranger spun his sword again. "You aren't the only one to loop."

"Hmmm… then I suppose I'll just have to kill you next time."

"You can try, Drakken. But remember…" with that the Legacy Ranger reached behind him and pulled out what looked like a curved serpent's fang."I'll be ready." With that he plunged the fang down right into Drakkon's merged Power Coin.

"NO!" he screamed as he felt his connection to the morphing grid shatter. He held up his hands, horror filling him as his costume disappeared, melting from him as his coin hissed and melted. His helmet crumbled to dust and he panted as he lay before the Legacy Ranger wearing the dirty, grimy green tank top and dark pants he'd been wearing years ago before he'd morphed the last time. He trembled, suddenly cold as the night winds blew across his exposed skin and he clutched at his bleeding stomach with his good arm as his body, now without the powers of his coin, felt the full brunt of his injuries. "How…"

"You'll never know," Jason taunted. "Go. I want you to live your life as one of the pathetic little people you so hate and want to dominate."

Drakkon slowly stood up, the Coinless forces staring at him, the Scarlet Ranger glowering, and Skull gripping his staff. Drakkon began to stumble forward, his mind turning first to his rage… and then wondering what he would do next.

'I'll kill him. I'll kill him and take that new power as my own! It's not hurting him like it does me… he knows the secret! I'll rip it out of his head. But first I need to hide… to heal. And eat. God, I haven't eaten in days. Where can I find food? Need to steal some. Maybe find some of my sentries… convince them to side with me. To help me. Yes. Yes, gather my strength and return. Even if it takes the rest of my life-'

"Hey Tommy!" Jason called out.

Drakkon… Tommy… turned, ready for his old friend to give some sentimental bullshit about how, if he redeemed himself or discovered the good in him they would be waiting to welcome him back. Perhaps Jason would even offer to help him, to give him aid… and Tommy would accept it until the moment when he could kill the sentimental fool. He turned, a slight smile forced on his lips as he waited to hear Jason speak of redemption and friendship.

Instead Jason pointed his sword at him, the tip glowing green.

"I never said how long that life would be. Avada Kedavra."

Tommy could only watch as the green light raced right at-

~A Few Hours Later~

"Feel any different?" Jason asked, moving to sit next to Skull. Both were still in their uniforms, their helmets off, watching as the Coinless rounded up the last of Drakkon's forces in New Tech City. Zara had gone off with Kimberly, saying that she needed to work off some pain and stress with a sparring session and with her able to become metal she'd be one of the few Kim couldn't hurt. Trini and Zack were down below leading the round up, with some sentries trying to claim their innocence while others swore vengeance… especially when they saw the strung up corpses of Lord Drakkon and Finster-5. Jason hadn't liked that but Zack had coldly told him that he'd been out of the game too long and that the people of the world needed proof that the overlord was dead. Jason had accepted, knowing that despite what it may appear to be, thanks to this being a fused loop, he was a guest to this world and it wasn't his home.

Skull looked down at his hands. "I'm used to looping but still not sure what it's like to be anchored."

"Long," Jason stated. "It feels long."

"Honestly, I'll take that over all of this." Skull sighed as he looked down at the wreckage of the courtyard. "I suppose it is too much to hope that this loop ends soon."

"I have a feeling it will go on for a few more years. The Mystic Mother wants me to make sure you know everything there is to know about looping before our dimensions seperate. We also need to get your pocket set up with goodies."

"I have weapons," Skull told him.

"But I can get you the Zeo Crystals. Show you were some zords are hidden. Those kinds of things."

"That would be helpful," Skull said. "The Zeo whatsits… that how you…" he gestured at Jason's outfit.

"A bit. One of the Original Seven taught me how to merge powers together. That and it took me several loops for my… spirit? Soul?... to get used to the gold ranger power so it didn't kill me. Still, it was useful. You can merge powers without what Harry taught me but that will kill you like it was Drakkon."

"Good to hear," Skull said, clearly impressed.

Jason swung his legs back and forth over the edge of the palace. "According to the Mystic Mother when we loop again this reality will be close to mine."

"It always starts off the same, with the rangers appearing and saving the day until Dra... Tommy going nuts."

"But this time will be different. He's going to be unawake the next loop… hopefully the next hundred or so. You going to be able to handle that?"

"You mean can I resist the urge to kill him when technically the Tommy I'll be dealing with isn't Drakkon? Yeah, I think so. Just going to treat him like he has multiple personalities." Skull chuckled. "Also, I do start off as a bully…"

"Just don't go overboard and make him become Drakkon even when unawake," Jason warned.

"I'll let Bulk take the lead." Skull's smile turned a bit less wicked and more heartfelt. "Bulk. He's going to live this time. He's going to grow up and open his hotel… it's going to be amazing."

"It might be a while before he begins looping," Jason reminded him.

"I've been with him unawake so far. Hundred or so loops. Lost count. I can manage Bulk till he Awakens and then the two of us can be the heroes we always wanted to be. Maybe even get to be Rangers ourselves." Jason stared at him and Skull gave him a self deprecating grin. "Ya, I know… never gonna happen. But I can dream."

"That's not it," Jason said, reaching into his subspace. "Do you know why Drakkon never had a Triceratops Sentries?" Skull turned to him only to flail about as he made a mad grab for the gold coin Jason flipped over to him, just barely catching it. He stared at the Power Coin in shock then at Jason. "Billy's. Trini hid it when he died. I convinced her that you deserved in." 

"I… I don't…"

"The other ranger costumes will remain things of horror in this loop. Might take centuries for people to see a Red or Yellow ranger and not flee. But Blue? Blue is the color of hope." Jason clasped Skull on the shoulder. "These are the Commands of Zordon. Commit them to your soul: Never use your powers for personal gain and never escalate the fight yourself. Do you swear this?"

"I…yeah, I do."

"The third command won't apply to this loop… you can't hide who you are as they've had enough of masked warriors for a lifetime… so I give you a new final command: Train. Prepare. Collect. Be Ready."

"I will."

"Then Eugene Skullivitch…" Jason pressed his finger to Skull's coin and channeled the power of the stolen Red power coin that created his Sentry armor into the Blue Power coin… and smiled as the two energies mixed and merged into a brilliant violet light."I name you the Purple Legacy Ranger. May the Power protect you."

Skull looked over the coin, silent for several long minutes. "It might be centuries before we see each other again after all this."

"But we will see each other again," Jason said with a smile. "I swear it."

 **Loop 32**

Jason sighed as he woke up in his bedroom.

"Hey Mystic Mother? I'm taking a vacation this loop. Think I'll take up painting. Just an FYI."

~Meanwhile, in the Coinless Dimension…~

"I'm comin', I'm comin'," Bulk said, opening the door to his house and staring at the grinning form of- "Skull? It's 7 am." 

"Brought donuts!" The Anchor said with a grin, holding up a box. "Thought we could eat now and then head to the Juice Bar. Maybe see about you getting your Bench pressing Record up a bit higher." 

Bulk grinned at that, "That sounds like a brilliant idea. Oooh, jelly!"

"Also, I've been thinking… maybe we should see if Ms. Weatherbee would be willing to tutor us in math a bit."

Bulk paused, a bit of donut hanging from his mouth. "Why would I want more school work?"

Skull weakly shrugged. "Well, remember how we talked about opening our own Juice Bar, like Ernie's? One without dweebs? I talked with Ernie about it a bit ago and he showed me all the stuff he has to do, with inventory and stuff and man, it left me spinning! We need to know how to run the books, make sure we made enough money that we can get some cool arcade games and such."

"…well, I suppose. So long is it is about making money! But the first hint I have of you ending up like that goodie goodie Jason Scott and I'm out of there!"

Skull merely grinned and whispered, 'If only you knew, pal.'

~M~L~P~R~

Author's Notes: And thus we finally have the answer for what the heck is going on and how this story can be running without affecting the main 'official' PR Loop: The Crash, a cloned branch, and Drakkon. Thus this world is its own branch of Yggdrasil where I can do what I want without affecting others.

Skull looping was an easy choice as, in the comics, Skull became a rather important member of the Coinless and it adds something special to Drakkon's world where Skull is the new anchor.

I love the idea that Drakkon during his loops tried to find allies and got none. Especially love the idea of him raising little Kira, Trent, Connor, and Ethan as his children and they just become evil little siths who betray him and kill him.

And yes, I read the final issue of that comic and why Drakkon is the way he is and I still don't feel an ounce of sympathy for him he is a mass murderer I hope he is in hell having to apply makeup to Satan's butt. That said though, I am using his desire to rule and to be a part of a group here and even had it before that final issue. I like the idea that he still loves Kim in his own twisted way and wishes she'd just be with him. And I do think that even after they betrayed him in one timeline Drakkon kept an eye on the Dino Thunder rangers and made sure they did okay because deep down he does still see them as his team mates and he hopes one loop they will side with him.

...also, the Master Xandread thing reminds me of a one shot I wanted to write. Basically, it would take place during Samurai and have Dekker fighting the rangers… only for Max and Danny to appear and tell him they finally got all the info they needed. Dekker would be confused and Max would tell Danny he warned him this could happen and they easily restrain Dekker and tell Jaden to just stand there and do nothing. Taylor would arrive with Eric from Time Force (they are still dating) at which point they'd notice Dayu… and she would be all happy and chipper and greet them. Taylor would tell the Samurai rangers that Cole Evans, their red ranger, went deep undercover to investigate Xandread. Using Time Force equipment Dayu would turn back into Alyssa, revealing that she and Cole got married and that she was pretending to be Dayu to help his investigation. Dekker becomes Cole again, thanks Jaden for his help, and the rangers leave… and Jaden is confused.

Zara's Scarlet Ranger 1.0 costume is based on her Tyrantrum form. The fur collar is inspired, by all things, Kamdor. I just love that villain look.

Also, I had the idea for a golden 'Master' Morpher BEFORE the last anniversary special.

And yes, props where props are due. The Legacy Red Ranger is based on the King Tyranno designs. And Drakkon's death was inspired by Lucky Number 13.

As for Skull? That was a last minute change as originally he just became the Blue Ranger but I decided to have Jason induct him as the official second Legacy Ranger, with Zara becoming the third within the next chapter or so. We will see him again at some point.


	9. Chapter 9

**Loop 33**

"You know… there has to be better ways to fight putties."

Zara looked up from the model ship she was attempting to build in a bottle (which techiganlly would have been easy for her as she had figured out how to shrink down to near microscopic levels after their last loop had seen them caught in the same blast that shrunk the Turbo Rangers… a bit of computing and she'd been able to replicate the process… but she was doing it the old fashion way). Jason was sitting on his bed, tossing a ball in the air lazily. They'd actually awoken a few years earlier than they normal did, with Jason being only 10 years old. That was interesting except Zara had to be insanely careful since she only knew how to take the form of a 16 year old and didn't want to be called a pedophile; thus she only came to Jason's house when his parents weren't around.

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I fight them I use martial arts. It's getting boring."

"Try different styles."

"I'm now a black belt in all styles, even that Brazilian jui jitzu and that wasn't even invented when I first started as a ranger! I want to try out some new things."

"Cool new things or weird new things?"

"Start with column a, move to column b."

"So basically I have a chance to just relax for the next few loops," Zara stated.

Jason shrugged. "Unless you want to be the Scarlet Ranger again."

"Still figuring out what changes I want to make to my costume when we meet Edna Mode. Can work on that and a few projects. Maybe see if I can grab some zords and try and get them looping… I always wanted a little brother or sister!"

~Several Years Later~

"I do not know if this is appropriate," Zordon intoned. "I have looked at your Earth Laws…" 

"I'm sorry Zordon but that is how we fight," Trini stated. "Jason got us hooked on it when we were 11 and we've only learned those moves."

"Very well… Alpha, please see about securing several cases of this 'Coors'."

And that was how, hours later, Rita found her putties being defeated via very method Drunken Boxing.

"Stupid! Stupid!" Zack cried out, swaying slightly. "Nobody calls me stupid!" He spun about, lurking from one putty to the next, managing to hit one right in the face.

 **Loop 34**

"Jason, are you sure this will work?" Billy asked nervously as King Sphinx approached them.

"Just remember your training!"

Billy nodded, marching up to the monster. King Sphinx glared down at Billy, cackling as he prepared to sock the Blue Ranger. "…that's my purse!" Billy screamed, the monster blinking in confusion. "I don't know you!" 

And then he kicked him right in the testicles.

"Again!" Jason cried out as King Sphinx went down in agony.

Goldar decided maybe it was time to retire.

 **Loop 35**

"Jason, we are in serious trouble!" Tommy declared (and it was only because he'd gone through a few loops already that prevented Jason from flinching at the sight of his friend and not have Drakkon flashbacks). Jason had to admit that things had escalated quickly. Zara apparently was tired of being yanked away from her binge watching (she'd pocketed a complete DVD box set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and was in the middle of season 2 when Zordon had recruited the rangers) just to fight some monsters so she'd decided to end the fights before they even needed to make the Megazord. He had suggested using the mindless drone version but after that had knocked out the power during the last loop when she'd been attempting to Speed Run Final Fantasy 7 she had decided to take matters in her own giant metal claws.

It had all come to a head when Zara, feeling she was only a loop or two away from getting the Sabertooth Tiger Zord from looping (though why she thought that Jason didn't know and the Mystic Mother had even sent a message saying that that Sabertooth was no where close to being ready to loop), had decided not to let Pirantishead destroy the Zords (as she felt, for some odd reason, that having the zord remain unchanged would speed up the process… Jason honestly couldn't keep track and let his friend just do what she wanted) and just dove into the lake and emerged as her Zord self the moment the monster was created… and ate him.

And then gone out for some fries.

That had enraged Zedd and he had decided to just come down to Earth and deal with the Rangers himself, tossing them about like ragdolls and generally showing why he was the Emperor of Evil. Jason could utterly destroy him at this point, even without magic or purifying powers, but he decided that now was the best chance to try out his newest… ehem… fighting method.

"Tommy, Kim… we need to use the Secret Combo!"

"On it, Jason!" Kimberly declared.

"…do we have to?" Tommy whimpered.

"Yes."

The Green Ranger let out a sigh… before walking towards Zedd and letting out a whistle. "Well well well… you got fries to go with that shake?"

"What are you blathering about, you foolish wretch?" Zedd demanded, gripping his staff.

Tommy clicked his teeth together. "Just admiring the view!"

And then he slapped Zedd on the ass.

"YOU DARE-!" 

"Hey!" Kimberly shouted, stomping over with her hands on her hips. "Wat ya think ya're doin'? That there is MY man, slut!"

Zedd looked at Kimberly, leaning back in surprise. "Have you all gone mad? Did my hits rattle your brain?"

"I know something is gonna rattle!" Kim said, removing a pair of imaginary earrings. "My foot when I shove it up your home-wreckin' ass!" She let out a shriek and tackled Zedd, grabbing his head and smashing it into the ground as she hissed and screamed, the two of them rolling about. Tommy quickly got out of the way, staring at his hand in disgust, while Kim and Zedd continued to fight. "That's my man, bitch!"

Zedd shoved her off. "You dare assault me like that? You will think what I did before was mere child's play compared to-GAH!" The evil alien went down hard as Trini broke a Power Chair over his head.

"Lay off, skank!" Trini screamed with a southern twang. "Let's teach this ho some manners!"

"Remember the ancient battle chant!" Jason called out.

Zack and Billy nodded and raised their fists. "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

 **Loop 36**

Trini, swaying slightly, blinking her eyes as she tried to focus. She was lying on a mat in the Juice Bar and she could hear her friends grunting and commenting to themselves as they practiced their moves. Trini felt rather odd though, out of sorts and confused, made more so when she touched her face and felt something sticking to her skin. But rather than blood she found the tips of her fingers coated in white grease paint. A few more touches proved that her entire face was lathered in the stuff, though some of it was blue and around her lips it was yellow.

"What?" she murmured.

"Trini, are you alright?" Jason called out, hurrying over. "Sorry, I thought for sure you'd block that!"

She stared at Jason, her face screwing up in utter confusion at the sight of him.

He had on his favorite red tank top and black pants but his face was also covered in grease paint with a red triangle around one eye and a circle about the other. The area around his mouth was blue and he had a big red rubber nose on. Topping his head was a big rainbow-colored wig. Trini tilted her head, wondering if she'd been hit harder than she thought…

"Jason… what… why are you wearing all that?"

Jason frowned. "I always wear this. We're practicing Clown-Fu."

"Clown-Fu? What?" Trini began to get up, seeing that the rest of her friends were also wearing clown outfits, along with a bunch of other students from their school. "IS… is this a spell?"

"A spell?" Jason said, his tone growing deadly serious. "And who would have cast that spell?"

"Rita?" Trini groaned, rubbing her temples. "But no… she… the Space Rangers, they defeated her…but…" She looked over at the rest of the gang, brow furrowing in confusion. "What are we doing back at the juice bar? We haven't been here for years…"

"…ZARA!" Jason shouted and Trini watched as a red-haired teen she'd never met hurried over from where she had been talking with Ernie ('But Tommy said Ernie sold the juice bar… did he come back?'), this one thankfully free of makeup.

"What's up?" the teen looked down at the confused asian woman. "You okay Trini?"

"You… you know me?"

Zara looked at her, a bit startled. "For a year now. We just talked-"

"Zara," Jason said, his voice hoarse. "She's loopy and needs an anchor."

"…holy crap," Zara said before turning to the others. "Okay, Trini needs some air guys! Zack, keep leading the class, okay? Ernie, I'll get with you tomorrow." 

"Sure thing, Zara! Hope you feel better Trini!"

Waving weakly at Ernie as Jason helped her up, Trini followed her friend and Zara as they half carried her, half dragged her out of the juice bar. They made their way to a bench behind the rec center and Zara, who had snagged some water bottles and Jason's bag, offered her one while using the others to wet down some towels. Jason began to clean off his face while Zara offered Trini one herself, the befuddled teen happily taking it and getting the grease paint off her face.

"Jason, what is going on?" Trini asked once Jason had pulled off his wig. "Clown-Fu? Us at the rec center? And-" She froze, finally taking a good hard look at him now that he had his makeup off. "You're so young! Did someone cast a spell to… take us back in time?" Her hands went towards her back, where she and the other rangers (save Tommy, for some odd reason) always hid their morphers, only to find there was nothing there. "Where… we aren't…" she stopped, glancing at Zara.

"Power Rangers?" Zara asked. "Don't worry, I already know." 

"Are you one of the new teams? I heard about Time Force-"

"Not quite," Zara said slowly, shrugging weakly. "You probably won't believe me. Not until we give you the full story."

"Give me the short one," Trini said. With it clear that Jason and this Zara having answers Trini's confusion and worry had given way to determination and a bit of steel returned to her voice.

"Thanks to the two of us being caught in an infinite time loop Jason is now the most powerful ranger that ever lived and I am his Tyrannosaurus Zord given sentience."

"…"

"Told you," Zara said with a smirk.

Trini glanced at Jason. "Is this a joke?"

"Well, the Clown-Fu was because I was bored. As for the rest…" Looking around he pulled out his morpher (though Trini noticed it was gold instead of silver) and morphed… into a much upgraded form of his red ranger costume. As for Zara she rolled her shoulders before her skin rippled and she transformed into the Thunder Dragonzord's warrior mode, though at their height. She quickly transformed back and pulled out her OWN morpher and morphed into another variant of the red ranger. "All true," Jason said before him and Zara demorphed.

"And just to really screw with ya… you still have another year before Rita is freed and Zordon gives you your powers."

"Not helping," Jason said sternly.

"How?" Trini whispered.

Jason sat down beside her, the Zara woman moving to her other side so that Trini was bracketed by the two. "Let me tell you a story… it starts with a giant tree…"

~Two Hours Later~

"She's handling this better than I expected," Zara stated as she watched Trini move through some katas, her favored form of relaxation. Jason had gotten done explaining the loops, anchors, alternate dimensions, subspaces, MLEs, and subspace pockets and Trini had merely stood up and begun to go through her exercises. The two anchors knew her well and understood that she needed this and didn't say a word as she centered herself and puzzled over what she'd been told. Jason had sent work to Skull (who, in this loop, had become his second in command for his classes while Bulk was one of his better students, to the point that Jason honestly wondered if one of the two would end up becoming a ranger) that he was ending classes early and Trini was fine she just needed to decompress. Zara had pulled out a copy of 'The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs' and was reading about 'her family history' (in her own words) while Jason was fighting the urge to get out his Turbo morpher (from one of the many loops where he stayed on the team) and fiddle with it to see if he could merge it with another one of his ranger powers.

"To be fair, we've never seen how people react to finding out about the loops. You were basically born into them and Skull already had Rita tell him all about them-" Trini stuttered slightly overhearing that but continued with her movements, "-so this might be a normal reaction."

"And how did you react?" Zara asked.

"…shut up."

"Okay," Trini said, letting out a breath. "So are world is merely one part of a massive tree computer called Yggdrasil. It encountered an error a while ago-"

"Possibly trillions of years ago," Zara said helpfully.

"-and to save all of existence it began looping all of time. To help solve the problem Admins, who are also gods, began awakening people to serve as anchors in each reality, so that Yggdrasil wouldn't go down in flames. Our reality is a copy of another one when a video game branch caused a crash-"

"With a capital C!" Zara said with a grin.

Jaosn sighed. "Let her finish."

"-that made a duplicate of the original reality and also created two copies of Rita, one of which is now a good Admin helping us." Trini began to pace. "She first selected Tommy but he went insane and turned evil because of some mental disease named for a female ninja and to stop him from becoming all powerful you were made the anchor and then you defeated him."

"For now. He'll still loop but hopefully the next time he does Skull will be strong enough to stop him on his own."

"And in an alternate reality Skull has Billy's power coin and most likely will be a ranger. Meanwhile you know magic-"

"Wand magic and Shrine Maiden Magic… even though I'm a guy."

"-and Zara here is your zord who gained sentience and was a red ranger in one loop so she can become human."

"Biomechanical," Zara said, tapping her head and causing it to clang.

"And you two have been collecting powers and abilities to increase your own power to deal with other potential loopers or MLEs who might appear." 

Jason pointed at himself then Zara. "Red Legacy Ranger and Scarlet Legacy Ranger."

"…right, okay." Trini let out a breath. "Okay. And now I've begun looping which means for you sometimes I'll be Awake and sometimes not but for me I'll only know of my Awake times. And eventually all our friends will wake up."

"Exactly."

"…that still doesn't explain Clown-Fu."

Jason chuckled. "I've been looping for a while. It gets boring doing the same thing over and over again so I mix it up. One time Zara was part of our team. Another time she was evil. One time I was a communist and by the end had Billy trying to overthrow Zordon in the name of Stalin."

Trini shook her head though. "But Jason, this is serious! The world… we protect-"

Zara and Jason shared a look before they both, as one, reached into their subspace pockets.

"We'll use mine," Jason said. "You can give the next one their assignment." 

"Fine," Zara said with a shrug and turned back to her book. "Think we can do a loop where we liberate my great grandma's bones from a museum? That would be fun." She tapped her chin. "But let's wait till we get a loop where you can turn into a dinosaur. I asked the Mystic Mother to see about one of those… I hear Rexy the T-Rex loves adopting kids…" 

Jason turned to Trini who was shooting him a scolding look. "You don't get to lecture me on abusing power until you complete your assignment." 

"And what is that?" Trini asked, arms folded over her chest and a solid glare shooting from her eyes. Jason had forgotten how much one of those looks could make him cringe. Trini was the most mothering of the group… both when it came to being kind and caring AND when it came to heaping on the guilt. There was a reason why Jason still ate his green beans even after looping for several centuries at this point.

Jason held out a sheet of paper. "Listen, I get it… I thought the same way you did and it took several loops to realize that Harry was right and if you just try to stick to the baseline you'll go nuts. Never mind that as time goes on our world will begin kicking in variants. But since you won't believe me and I don't want to be stuck doing baselines again just because you don't believe me I came up with this experiment to show you what I mean." Trini took the paper and looked it over. "This works out perfect because it is the summer, so school can't mess it up."

Trini read over the document. "Step 1- Get up at 7:30 sharp. Step 2- Take shower while listening to Ipod playlist Jason created… what's an Ipod?"

Jason tossed her a small yellow Apple Product. "I have like 80 of them. Keep it. It has the only music you are allowed to listen to. Go on."

"Step 3- Eat cheerios for breakfast while watching dvd Jason burned, Episode 1." Jason pulled out a portable dvd player and handed it to her and Trini had a feeling it was going to be something she'd have to watch over and over. "Step 4- Go to park and jog. Do not interact with anyone. Step 5- Have lunch with Jason, follow script provided on back of this sheet. Step 6- Watch DVD Jason prepared, Episodes 2 through 4. Step 7- Have supper, Jason will have it delivered to you. Step 8- Watch Episodes 5-8. Step 9- Bed. Step 10-Repeat forever." Trini looked up. "Really?"

"You want to live like baseline then you'll do it small scale. Manage a month and I'll give it another try."

"Fine!" Trini declared firmly. "I will and I will show you that it can be done!"

~5 Days Later~

"You're early for our lunch," Jason said with a smile as Trini trudged over to him, her right eye twitching and her face slack and slightly pale.

"Just give me the damn face paint," Trini muttered.

"What was the breaking point? Same food or the same news show over and over?"

"Listening to 'Whoomp! (There It Is)' every day as the ONLY song I can listen to! I now think I want to murder that band."

"Luckily Clown-Fu can help with that…" Jason said, wrapping an arm around Trini and leading her to where he kept the wigs. "And after your calm we'll discuss setting up your subspace and deciding what morphers you want to grab… how do you feel about ninja powers?"

 **Loop 37**

"Who is that?" an unawake Trini asked Jason as the two, along with the other soon-to-be rangers, stared at the strange foe who had just appeared before them and wiped out the putties by calling down a barrage of fire from a massive space ship that was shaped somewhat like a V. Jason was utterly baffled by all of this as the putties had attacked the Rec Center instead of waiting for Zordon to contact them and had gotten Zara, Bulk, and Skull involved. They had been handling them fine (with Jason having to remember that he couldn't just utterly destroy the minions with ease as that would raise too many questions) when the figure had appeared and stated that he had no time for such foolishness and wiped the putties out.

"Who are you?" Jason said, stepping forward. "Why did you help us?"

The new arrival stepped forward. He was dressed all in black, with a strange helm covering his face so that not an inch of flesh could be seen. There were no features where his eyes, nose, or mouth should have been, with only a mirrored green plate to be seen. Silver adornments surrounded the plate, matching similar ones on his gauntlets and the large chest-and-shoulder shield that he wore.

"I did not come to help you, children. I came to save this world, this universe, as I have saved others: through conquest." The new arrival held out his hands and several black robed creatures appeared before the group. "In every dimension I have come to there is always The Champion, the noble fool who stands in my way. I know that those blubbering pieces of clay were the enemies of the Champion in this realm, as was the screeching witch I found upon your moon. I have reduced her to dust, as I will the Champion… and then I will bring your universe into line, as I have all others! Only then will I be able to defeat the Entity!"

Jason prepared to pull out his morpher, damn revealing himself, only to feel the tale-tell sensation of teleportation, the new arrival bellowing in outrage as he, his friends (including Zara), Bulk, and Skull were all teleported into the Command Center…

…and rather than Alpha greeting them it was an overweight 20-something man in a long coat and spiral goggles.

"I've got them! I managed to bring them here before they could be taken! Ehehehehe!"

"Well done, Linksano!" a voice declared… soundly like a slightly lower-pitched version of the Alpha-5 replacement. Zordon's tube light up, revealing another floating head… only this one was wearing a rather nice hat. "Teenagers of Earth, Lord Vyce has escaped and now threatens your planet! I, the great Linkara, request your add to stop him. But first… I need to review this comic book." Jason tilted his head as a comic book called 'The Tandy Computer Whiz Kids' appeared floating next to the tube.

"…this is going to be a weird loop," Jason muttered.

 **Loop 38**

Trini and Jason both blinked, finding themselves sitting at a booth in a restaurant.

"You Awake?" Jason asked.

"And feeling Loopy," Trini said, using the code Jason had taught her. "How many loops?"

"Just one and it was weird. We spent half our time reviewing comic books. All Star Batman and Robin sucks, by the way. It ended when we fought a giant Rob Liefeld. Don't ask."

"Where is Zara?" Trini asked.

Jason focused and sent out a ping and after a few moments they got back a weak reply. "Crap," Jason muttered, pulling out the phone he had on him (not his subpocket phone but one he apparently owned this loop) and checked the calendar. "Double crap."

"What is it?"

"It's 2007."

"The Thunderzords!" Trini exclaimed only to clamp her hand over her mouth and look around in fear. "Is… is she dead?"

"She sent a ping back so she's alive but she's heavily damaged. From what I remember Billy telling me they brought back the Thunderzords to the Command Center and put them underground, occasionally using them for spare parts. That means Zara's in a bad state but she should be fine… she can heal pretty quick so long as she is active." Jason sighed, running his tongue over his teeth. "Honestly I don't know though how bad off she is. This is the first loop where I awoke well after being a ranger. Usually we can just fake her being destroying or prevent it from even happening." 

"We need to check on her," Trini said. At first she'd kept the zord at arm's length but once she'd gotten used to her Zara had become a good friend, someone Trini could talk to woman-to-woman about things she couldn't discuss with Kim, not when it came to looping. They'd discussed the fact that loopers, unless they'd already had kids in their baseline, were sterile, as well as Trini's own death in 2001 (she could still remember the car accident) and how to handle the fact she'd been give a new lease on life. "Wait… how am I alive? I got in that car accident… neither of us were awake to prevent it-"

"Variant loop," Jason guessed. "Check your memories?"

Trini focused and then sighed. "Nothing clear but I never got in that car crash. Zack and I are still together but he is on a trip to Washington…" Trini smiled and glanced at Jason. "You didn't tell me he became mayor of Angel Grove!"

"He does a good job of it," Jason said. In their baseline Zack had become mayor in part to Jason's support, as the Red Ranger had become Chief of Police in Angel Grove and thrown his full support behind his friend. The two had had a great working relationship, mostly because both had remained bachelors; Zack had never gotten over losing Trini and Jason just never found a girl that was right for him. "So, looks like we are just hanging out while he is away. I took some vacation time… anything you want to do?"

"Well, we aren't doing Clown-Fu again."

"It was funny when Zedd decided to turn all his putties into mimes… the natural enemy of the clown."

"Haha," Trini complained. "You didn't get trapped in that invisible box." She looked around and frowned. "Jason… why are we sitting on the same side of the booth?" Her eyes went wide. "Please don't tell me I'm cheating on Zack with you!"

Jason checked his memories. "Nope." He scowled suddenly. "But I remember what I was at least doing in the baseline at this time." He nodded his head towards the door and Trini saw a tanned man with an expensive yet casual button up shirt, khakis, and brown vest walk towards the waitress' podium, a heavy set older man dressed in a butler's outfit and carrying a briefcase just a few steps behind him. "Andrew Hartford."

"Who?"

"Adventurer. Indiana Jones Wannabe. Tech genius. He worked for Lightspeed Rescue for a time, after their Ranger team went into semi-retirement. Inherited his fortune from his father who was an oil man."

"Lightspeed was the team that popped up after Astronema's defeat, right? We thought Billy's uncle led it?"

"Technically there was the Galaxy Rangers but for Earth, yeah." Jason had grabbed a napkin and without realizing it begun to shred it. "He apparently studied the morphing grid for a while before he decided to leave and just go exploring."

"I'm sensing he did more than that to get you upset."

Jason grunted. "Idiot poked around things he shouldn't have and ended up activating an ancient alien artifact, the Corona Aurora."

"Sounds like a beer teens drink thinking they are having high end stuff."

The Red Ranger barely smirked at the joke. "Because of him not one, not two, but FOUR different groups of aliens decide to attack the Earth. He decided to put together his own Ranger team to deal with it."

"Wait… he just… makes Power Rangers."

"He hacked the morphing grid," Jason said, his voice filled with utter disgust.

Trini narrowed her eyes. "Okay, seeing the hate-inducing already."

"Yeah. After his team screws up against Rita and Zedd's son-"

Trini gagged as she watched Hartford and his butler discuss something while the waitress waited. "They… they had a kid?"

"According to Adam they did. Anyway, after his team screwed up and got their powers knocked out the Sentinel Knight-"

"Who?"

"Yet another fighter for good Zordon never told us about… he apparently liked to keep things hidden. The man was worse than Dumbledore. So the Knight gets Adam and a bunch of past rangers… and somehow one from the future-don't ask, Adam didn't understand either- and brought them in to help. Want to take a guess what the team did?"

Trini considered this. "If it were us I'd say they worked on getting their powers back and assisted the other team."

"They quit."

"Seriously?"

"They are the reason why I stopped introducing myself to Ranger. After that I just… soured on meeting the new kids." Jason nodded towards Hartford. "He got them their powers back but whatever he did screwed up the morphing grid. Took Adam and Alpha years to get it working right again. So the idiot caused the alien invasions, plural, and then damaged the Morphing grid… and he picked a team that quit at the first sign of trouble." 

"Why is he here?"

"In the baseline he tried to recruit me," Jason said with a glower as Hartford and the butler finally seemed to finish their conversation. "Found out who I was thanks to his hacks into the grid. Wanted me to be his second in command."

"Tried to recruit you?"

"I'd already heard through the grapevine about him, how he treated Power Rangers and the powers so casually. Our conversation didn't last long."

"Oh?"

"He said, 'hi, I'm Andrew Hartford' and I said 'frig off'. Except I didn't use the word frig."

Trini snorted at that before growing serious. "You going to do that again?"

"You can, if you want."

"…we should accept."

"Excuse me?"

Trini shrugged. "You said it yourself, he screws up a lot. Damages the morphing grid. We work with him and we can prevent that for at least this loop."

"Or I could have Zara eat him," Jason said as Hartford finally walked up to them, setting into the booth as his butler did the same. Jason would give the man that at least… he treated his hired help with some dignity.

"Mr. Scott, Mrs. Taylor, thank you for meeting with me." The waitress came by to take their orders and Jason fought the urge to order shots, going with just a coke while Trini went with water and Hartford and the butler asked for lemonade. Burgers were ordered save for Trini, who had decided to go vegetarian this loop, and the waitress finally left to get their drinks and put in their order. "You're probably wondering why I contacted you."

"We've heard rumors," Trini said, deciding to take the lead as there was always the chance Jason would snap and show Hartford how he fought putties… using the man as his practice dummy. "We also have connections with Lightspeed Rescue."

"Yes, Billy Cranston's uncle, Captain Mitchell. I worked under him for a time." Hartford smiled politely. "So I believe we can drop the hints and the subtly and come to the point: I know about the Power Rangers and the roles you played."

Jason merely raised an eyebrow. "Well, you aren't here to blackmail us… because you are smart enough not to try that… so you must want something."

"Smart enough not to try and no need to with my wealth. Spencer?" The butler opened up the briefcase and Hartford told the two rangers all about the Corona Aurora and what he had learned about it. Through it all Jason and Trini didn't say a word, letting the man lay out everything that had happened while they ate their food.

Finally, after about 20 minutes, Hartford got to his pitch.

"The world is in danger. From what I've learned through studying the legends of the Corona there are several alien factions that are interested in obtaining it. We haven't seen anything like this since the Angel Grove Invasion." Hartford tapped the photo of the crown. "I am putting together a team. I've managed to create morphers that can link up to the morphing grid-" Jason fought of a snort, "-and I have also created zords based on Lightspeed designs that were never used. But I need a crack team… and I am hoping you will be a part of it."

Trini dabbed her mouth with a napkin. "If we help there needs to be some ground rules."

Hartford grinned. "Of course."

"The three of us, me, Jason, and you… we are partners. If two veto an idea then it is dead in the water, plain and simple. Now, I know Jason and I are teammates and friends so that means you'll need to be convincing to get us to side with you… and if you get one of us chances are you'll get both."

"Of course!" Hartford stated quickly, obviously believing they'd agree with everything he came up with.

"Second, we are doing this cleanly. I don't want to have Lightspeed or any other government sponsored ranger team coming after us. So if those zords aren't yours legal… make them legal or ditch them."

Hartford and his butler shared a look. "Y-yeah, I can do that."

"Finally, this is handled with utter seriousness. Jason and I fought to protect the world when we were teenagers and we managed to show maturity. I'm not going to put up with goofy antics and neither is Jason. That means both the team and any support staff we bring in."

"Support staff?" Hartford asked. "I was thinking of keeping this small-"

"Not happening with multiple factions coming at us," Jason said sternly. "You don't have your butler clean your whole mansion, do you?"

"He does, sir," Spencer said.

Jason and Trini shot Hartford a look.

"Uh… keeping it small?"

"Okay, firs thing we do is get the butler a staff we can trust. Next we need to recruit-"

The door to the restaurant slammed open and Zara walked in, looking like she'd been dragged through the mud and kicked a few times. Her clothing looked nice but there were cuts on her face and her hair was cackled in oil and mud.

"GAH! Stupid Alpha and stupid Command Center!"

"…and let's start with our zord expert," Jason said as Zara walked over to a table and stole their bottle of beer and guzzled it down.

~Several Weeks Later~

"Are you sure there is nothing else I can get you, Master Scott?" Spencer asked, looking at Jason as they stood in one of the rooms inside Andrew Hartford's mansion.

"I was good after the lemonade, the cookies, and the back rub," Jason said, rolling his eyes. Apparently Spencer had literally been cleaning Hartford's house all by himself for years… so having an actual staff had left the butler in tears and he now was worshiping Jason like he was some sort of god and Trini a goddess. "Why don't you go make sure everyone is ready for the interviews?"

"Yes, Master Scott, Mistress Taylor!" Spencer declared, hurrying off.

"I could go for some…lemonade…" Hartford said, only for his butler to ignore him. Shaking his head he walked over and took a seat at the end of the table, beside Jason. Trini was on the Red Ranger's other side and stacked on the table were resumes, photos, medical records, dossiers, and personality analysis documents. Hartford was once more in business casual while Jason and Trini had ditched their normal casual gear for a suit and pantsuit, respectively (though Jason had thought about doing a crossdresser loop at some point). "I really don't think this is necessary." Hartford said, once again. "I did my research and I believe that the team I selected will be perfect."

"Then it won't hurt for us to interview them, will it?" Trini asked politely. "Being a ranger is important and I want to make sure that we select the very best."

"Of course," Hartford said. "But I think you will find that those I selected are the very best!"

"We'll see," Jason said. "First up, Veronica 'Ronny' Robinson."

The potential ranger, a blond dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket, walked in and smirked as she took her seat. "So hey, not 100% sure what is going on but I hear you are looking for a crack team to assist you and, well, I'm your girl."

"It says here you are a race car driver," Trini said.

"Uh… champion race car driver. Best in the world."

"Right," Jason said. "Any combat skills?"

"No need. Just put me in front of a steering wheel and I can handle anything."

Hartford nodded. "She is amazing. Adapts well. Would pilot our vehicles great."

"What if you don't have a car?" Jason asked.

"What, like a boat?"

The Red Ranger frowned. "No… I mean you don't have something to drive."

"You mean I have to find something to drive?"

Trini shook her head. "We mean can you be in the field on your feet."

"…like with a Segway? Yeah, sure… just need to tinker with it."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, I mean if we sent you to help people without a vehicle… what would you do?"

"I don't understand the question."

Jason and Trini slowly turned to look at Hartford.

"…she's good at driving fast?" he said weakly.

~Five Minutes Later~

"So it says here you are trained here in several types of martial arts," Jason stated as he looked over the resume. He had to admit he was impressed. While he didn't have any blackbelts Dax Lo did have a well rounded education in fighting and combat. Yes, much of it was for films but he was talented. A bit of work, some training, and the guy might actually be worth a look. Trini clearly thought so too. Dax was a bit on the quiet side but that was okay, as it meant- 

"Yeah, you need it for my line of work. I'm a stuntman… but I'm looking to break out." He looked around the room. "You know, this reminds me of a movie set I was working on… I do movies by the way…"

~Twenty Minutes Later~

"…and I was like, "Come on, Clooney totally did notice me!" I know he did. Yeah, sure, it might have been a wax statue of him but I'm sure it wasn't. So anyway, the thing is I really want to break into a starring role. That's real important. I film movies, by the way. I think that it all started when I was 9…"

~Fifteen More Minutes~

"…and people say it is odd but I go, "Yeah, so what if I remember my mother giving birth to me? Big deal!" I mean, who doesn't remember that? I think it will make great motivation for me, when I finally get my big break. Because I am going to be a leading man. I'm an actor you know…"

Jason didn't know why but suddenly he was thinking of his mentor from his last loop screaming, "SHUT UP DAX!"

~Ten Minutes Later~

"What do you think?" Hartford whispered. "Great, right?"

"I have to admit… she is," Trini said, leaning forward so their current interviewee, Rose Ortiz, didn't hear them. "Graduated high school at 14, out of college by 18, has nearly completed her masters…"

"Has some basic self defense knowledge but nothing we couldn't work on," Jason stated. "At worst she could be support staff."

"But as for a ranger?" Hartford asked eagerly.

"If we can get her trained up she'd be a good choice," Jason said, Hartford clenching his fist in victory as Jason turned to Rose. "Miss Ortiz, we would like to hire you for the team we are building. I know we've been secretive so allow me to explain. It recently came to Mr. Hartford's attention that alien threats are headed towards our planet. We have decided to create a team of Power Rangers to combat-"

Rose snickered.

"-them and… are you okay?" Jason asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Rose said, still chuckling. "Is this still part of the interview? A psych test?"

"Nooooo," Jason said slowly.

The woman's brow crinkled. "You can't be serious, though. Power Ranger… they're not real! They're just a myth. Like ghosts and vampires."

Trini stared at Rose, trying to process just what she'd heard. "Power Rangers… aren't real?"

"Of course not! Geez!" Rose laughed. "Seriously, what are we doing? Experiments on DNA? Artificial Intelligence?"

Hartford cleared his throat, trying to save the situation. "Miss Ortiz… the Power Rangers are real. We've seen them."

"Urban legends and myth," Rose stated.

Trini glowered at her. "The government has WORKED with them."

"Paranoid delusions by crackpots."

"Video footage," Jason stated.

"Faked."

Hartford felt a headache coming on. "Eyewitness accounts."

"Pranksters."

"They were on a talk show," Trini said slowly, like speaking to a child.

"Ratings stunt."

Jason pulled out his morpher and morphed into his standard Red Ranger form, holding his arms out and gesturing at his own chest.

"…practical effects. I've seen that one on Mythbusters."

Jason pulled out his wand. "Yeah, this ain't going to work out. Oblivate!"

~Ten Minutes Later~

"Listen, normally I'm more about recovering what is already found but… if you need something searched for I can help," Will Aston offered, leaning forward and tapping the table. "Traps? Can handle them easily. Locked rooms? Can get through them. Avoid notice?" He reached over and took the pen Jason was holding. "I won't even be seen." Will put the pen in his pocket.

"Right… can I have my pen back?"

"What pen?"

Jason frowned and Hartford, seeing where this was going, held his head in his hands. "The pen you just took from me."

"I didn't take a pen." Will reached over and took the mug Trini had been drinking from, downing the contents and stuffed it in his jacket. "Now then, let's talk about pay."

"We'll talk about that when you give me my pen and her mug back," Jason said, his voice gaining a razor's edge.

Will laughed. "Man, you are crazy!" He began to walk around and randomly stuff things in his pockets. "Took your pen… crazy."

"Mr. Aston, I don't think this is going to work out," Trini said, ignoring the little moans Hartford was making. "While you have an impressive-" 

RIP!

Trini whipped around, her hand covering his chest as she looked at her torn shirt that was now in Will's hands.

"I admit, I am impressive," Will said as he began to try and put on Trini's shirt. "Oh, that is a nice ring!" He said as Jason stood up and clenched his fist. "You know, I have one just like that!" He reached out to grab Jason's hand only for the Red Ranger to decide to give Will a VERY up close viewing of the ring.

WHAM! 

~Thirty Five Minutes Later~

"Thank you Spencer," Trini said, accepting the new shirt that Spencer had gotten her.

"Of course, Mistress. Whatever you desire I shall provide." The utterly devoted butler looked down. "Foot rub?"

"I'm goo… no, second thought I could use one, thanks." She kicked off her shoes and Spencer got to work, happily massaging the tension way. "So that was a nightmare," Trini stated.

"If Zordon had left a body he'd be spinning in his grave," Jason said dryly before turning a critical eye towards Hartford… who was looking like he hadn't slept in weeks and just gone on a bender. "So… that was four. Anyone else? Maybe there is a serial killer you want to give a morpher too?"

"I swear, I thought they would be great! Everything I read on their Wikipedia pages made them seem perfect."

"…Wikipedia pages?" Jason slowly said. "They don't even let you use those to source a high school term paper… and you used that to pick out RANGERS!?"

"Jason, calm down, we'll…. Oooo, right there Spencer! Ooo… Okay, so this is a bad but we still have time."

"A bit bad? Each candidate sucked! We arrested the last one!" He began to pace. "We didn't even have enough for a team!"

Hartford weakly raised his hand. "I was actually planning on being the Red Ranger."

Jason shot him a dark look (Trini tried but Spencer REALLY gave good footrubs).

"Come on… I can do it!" Hartford proclaimed. "I messed up so it is the least I could do! I'm athletic, brave, smart… I could totally be the Red Ranger…"

Zara chose that moment to come in, wiping her hands on a rag. "Hey guys, the zords look great. Quick question though… why is there a robot designed to look like a 17 year old who calls Hartford 'daddy' hiding in the basement?"

Jason slowly turned and started at Hartford who quickly got to his feet. "Okay, there is a perfect logical and understandable reason for that. I never found a woman I wanted to be with sexually so I made myself a robot that looked like an underaged boy… that came out wrong-"

WHAM!

Jason shook his hand, looking down at Hartford's knocked out form. "Zara, get the cops back up here… ugh, think I hurt my hand."

"Would you like me to massage it, Master?" Spencer asked. "Or kick the one that offended you."

"…I think that would make me feel better, yes," Jason said, allowing the butler to begin stomping on his idiot employer.


	10. Chapter 10

**Loop 38 continued**

Flurious smiled as his ship neared the small, pathetic little planet known as 'Earth' ("With Open Bar!" his navcomputer happily informed him). He had been waiting for so long for this moment, for the Corona Aurora to appear once more and with it give him the power he had dreamed off.

"Our first task will be to set up a base. Someplace properly chilled for one of my standing and caliber." He marched in front of the view screen, several of his Chillers watching and waiting for direct commands. "Then we will wait for my brother… Moltor will be chasing after me soon enough and I wouldn't be surprised if in one standard space week he settles upon his own lair. Then we'll allow him to hunt for the crown… why waste my resources when I can let him find it and then snatch it right out of his hands?"

One of his Chillers motioned at the view screen but Flurious waved him off.

"No, I will let my brother squander his time and efforts on finding the Corona while I build up my army, strengthen my defenses, and plan my grand assault. He will be my unwitting errand boy, collecting for me all that I desire!" The ice creature let out a laugh even as his Chillers became more panicked… and with good reason as the large blue spaceship that was hovering in their path opened fired and utterly destroyed Flurious, the Chillers, and his ship.

"Astro Megaship Mark 1? This is the Mark 2," Andros said from the captain's chair of his ship. "Evil alien ship destroyed. Any sign of survivors?"

"Mark 2, this is Mark 1. You got them… good work."

"Thanks Karone. I'll send the message down to Jason right now."

~At the Hartford Mansion~

"That's a confirmed hit, Jason!" Justin Stewart declared, sitting at a monitor in the revamped Command Center in the basement of Hartford's mansion. With Andrew Hartford sent to a nice padded cell where they could deal with his need to make underage boy toy robots Jason and Trini had taken over his mansion, helped by the fact that his 'son' Mack had signed over all rights to it.

Not that Mack realized he'd done that as Zara had quickly wiped his memory to spare him the trauma of whatever 'games' his 'daddy' played with him (he kept mentioning the 'big fish he held' in his hands, much to the rangers' horror) and then tossed the robot into her subspace pocket, planning to reprogram him at some point into a more stable intelligent lifeform. At worst he would work to help teach the other zords how to assume human form.

The mansion was now filled to the brim with past Rangers who had all leapt at the chance to help. It seemed that it wasn't just Jason who got stir crazy after giving up his powers and there were a TON of past rangers who wanted to come back and fight the good fight. Plus, just as Jason had discovered during the Forever Red Incident, a lot of the rangers tended to leap at the chance to work with the first team of Earth Rangers.

"That's great, Justin," Jason said, clapping him on the shoulder. "So between him and that weird woman who tried to seduce me-"

"I still say you should have gone for it!" Zara called out, making Max Cooper and Connor Knight snicker. "You need to get laid!"

"Trust me, it never works out," Adam Park said, entering wearing the Black Overdrive ranger outfit, helmet tucked under his arm. "If they aren't trying to kill you they then break up with you and begin dating your best friend."

Rocky Desantos, Red Overdrive Ranger, followed after him and huffed. "Come on man, you need to get over this. I thought you said you were okay at the wedding!"

"I was!" Adam declared. "I mean I am… okay, it is just weird, alright. I made out with her and now you two are starting a family…"

Tommy Oliver (thankfully sane in this loop), leaned over to Aishia. "What am I missing? Sarah is a great girl…"

"Sarah was also Scorpina before the Zordon wave hit her," Aishia whispered.

Tommy's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

"Yeah… she's actually really sweet and down to earth when she isn't evil. We have a book club." At Tommy's startled stare she rolled her eyes. "You don't have the copyright on hell-to-face turns."

"Can we get back on task?" Eric Myers, the Mercury Overdrive Ranger, asked as he marched in, carrying one of the gems of the Corona Aurora. "You don't hear me talking about my love life!"

"That's because we call can see it!" Cam Watanabe stated, plucking the gem out of Eric's hand as Eric's wife, Taylor Earhardt-Myers entered and demorphed out of her Yellow Overdrive costume before she walked up and kissed him. "Okay Chip, let's get some readings on this thing."

"What are you thinking, Cam?" Trini asked as she entered the Command Center, Spencer following with a tray of lemonade (he had been more than happy to stay on after his 'moron of a boss' had been shipped to the funny farm… though Trini had caught him handing out pamphlets about a new religion he was starting that focused on her and Jason as the main deities).

"Well, I'm hoping that Chip can activate a partial bit of the gem's power so that I can get a reading. With that I would be able to get a lock on the other gems so we could send down some teams to collect them. Save a ton of time." 

Jason rolled his eyes. "Yeah, who thought it was a great idea to hide all powerful items using the same rules as a scavenger hunt?"

" _That was I!_ " a voice declared and Jason watched as an orange energy field appeared with a robot appeared in the center. _"I am the Sentinel Knight, guardian of the Corona Aurora. I have come here once again to state that you are handling this all very badly. You have allowed too many into the secret of the Corona and using science on such a mystical, magical items-"_

"Cole, he's back!" Jason called out.

"I got it!" Cole Evans called out, hurrying over with a vacuum.

" _W-what are you doing? Don't point that at me! Stop….noooooo!_ " the Sentinel Knight cried out as Cole vacuumed him up.

"Got him sir!" Cole said with a grin.

"Thanks Cole!" Jason said as the happily-go-lucky Wild Force Ranger saluted him and rushed back up stairs. "It's nice to have minions," he told Trini. "I see why Zedd kept Squat and Baboo around."

"Be nice," Trini chided him before turning to Dana Mitchell-Grayson, the Overdrive Pink Ranger. "Any property damage?"

"Nope. Between Lightspeed, the Silver Guardians, and the Wind Ninja Academy we kept things pretty clean." She pulled off her helmet and shook her hair out. "So, what are we doing for supper?"

"Jungle Karma Pizza," Kira Ford said as her and her fiancée Trent walked in, having been getting people's topping requests. "They opened up this new one in Ocean Bluff… Trent and I got some when I did a show there. Figured we can teleport over so it's piping hot."

"Guy who runs it is real weird. Keeps asking about my beast spirit," Trent said with a shrug.

~A Few Weeks Later~

"Are you sure I can't help you?" the recently transformed-back-to-normal Tyzonn asked Trini as the two walked through Ranger House (as the massive collection of nearly every ranger team that there had been had come to call it).

"You were trapped in a monstrous form for months, you thought your fiancée was dead, and your team was killed in front of you. On earth we call that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. No, you are getting help, plain and simple. Speaking off…" she waved to Ryan Mitchell who was waiting by one of the guest bedrooms. "I've got your ten o'clock here, Dr. Mitchell."

"Thanks," Ryan said, shaking Tyzonn's hand. "Now, I know what its like to be used against your will. That's why I got my psychology degree. Let's talk about…"

Trini stopped listening when her communicator went off. "Yes Wes?"

"It's just like you predicted," Wes Collins said. "The entity known as Thrax just appeared near the fake Corona Aurora Gem spot we set up. Should we engage?"

"No, hold for now. Jason has a plan."

~An Hour Later~

"Keep digging!" Thrax commanded the sole remaining Fearcat in the universe. "Keep digging or I will show you the might my father's blood gives me-"

And then the Fearcat exploded.

Thrax, after taking far to long to figure out first what had happened and second if the Fearcat was the blame, turned to find the Overdrive Rangers, the Red Legacy Ranger, the Yellow Mighty Morphin' Ranger (Trini hadn't gotten to the point where she could merge morphers yet), the Scarlet Legacy Ranger, the Silver Guardians (with a morphed Wes), Lightspeed Rescue (with all their rangers save Ryan), the Space Rangers, the Galaxy Rangers, various rangers that still had their powers, and a contingent from the Wind Ninja Academy all waiting for him. The self-styled new Emperor of Evil looked at them and let out a gravelly laugh.

"Ah… more rangers! Have you come to beg for mercy before I end you for what you did to my parents?"

Jason shook his head. "Yeah, about that… hey Chip? You get connected to her?"

"Sure did," Chip said via Jason's communicator. "She should contact you right… now."

There was a musical chime and a white energy portal opened to reveal the Mystic Mother (the non-Admin one).

"And who is this?" Thrax asked. "Another one of your number who corrupted my mother and father with goodness?"

The Mystic Mother frowned. "I am the purified Rita, you dolt."

"…oh. Oh! I… I knew that! Yes! And I will… uh… undo what was done to you, mother!"

The Mystic Mother shook her head. "You aren't my kid. If you were my kid you'd be 9 years old… and smart."

"I… I hit space puberty really quick!" Thrax shook his staff at the rangers. "You can't trick me! I am all powerful! Tremble! I fought the great Sentinel Knight-"

"Wait," Carter Grayson said, holding up his hand. "The Sentinel Knight lost his form over 10,000 years ago." He turned to Tommy who was using his Zeo costume. "Didn't Rita get sealed around that time?"

"Yeah."

"Uh… I… I traveled from the past! Yes!" Thrax stammered.

"And didn't Zedd hate Rita until like… 15 years ago?" Xander said, pulling out his copy of The History of the Power Rangers (Now With Pictures!) and thumbed through it (Jason and Trini had been busy when not running things and getting foot rubs from Spencer).

"Well… the thing is…"

Tonya put her hands on her hips. "You aren't Rita and Zedd's son at all. You are just some random grunt who put on a bad cosplay outfit!"

Thrax paled before clearing his throat. "No! I am Thrax! All powerful! All mighty! All-"

WHAM! 

"I got him sir!" Cole called out, holding up the vacuum he'd just used to knock out Thrax.

"Good job Cole! You get extra bread sticks tonight!"

"Yay!" Cole cheered.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Zara stated. "So… who wants to prank call the Rangers from Aquitar?"

"Me!" half the old school rangers called out.

 **Loop 39**

"Oh, frick Jace, that's where ya are, buddy!" Zara called out, pulling off her tuque and stuffing it into her pocket before heading onto the floor of the rink. "Things are real fricked up, bro! I woke up in a frickin' snow drift and I was a giant moose zord! Had to drive like 20 klicks in order ta get here, eh." She paused, watching as Jason fired a slapshot into the empty net. "Hey Jason, ya notice that people are talkin' funny and all that?"

"Frick ya, I do! I think we're stuck in some weird variant!" Jason said, adjusting his Maple Leaves jersey. "Instead of Angel Grove we're all from Toronto apparently! Zack's over there makin' hockey moves based on Bryan Adams songs! And Kim wants ta be a Curlin' player!" Kimberly waved a broom before she got back to work.

"Frick pal, this is screwed up, ain't it?" Zara said.

"Hey keener!" Bulk called out, skating over towards Jason, wearing a hat with earflaps on it. "Listen buddy I'm the best hockey around, ya best realize that keener!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Skull declared, joining them. "It's aboot time ya realize that and stop tryin' ta match us!"

"Just get out of here, eh? I'm not in mood ta deal with ya."

Bulk, noticing that Billy (who was wearing a blue flannel shirt) and Trini (unawake and in a goalie outfit) skating over, decided it was time to go. "This isn't over, friend!"

Jason rolled his eyes. "I'm not your friend, buddy!"

Bulk shook his fist and he reached the stairs. "I'm not your buddy, guy!"

"I'm not your guy, friend!" Jason declared in annoyance as Bulk marched up towards the exit.

"I'm not your friend, buddy!" Bulk bellowed as he opened the door.

"He's not your buddy, guy!" Zara shouted.

"We're not your guy, friend!" Bulk and Skull called out as they left.

Trini just rolled her eyes. "If I had loonie for every time those doughheads caused problems I'd be richer than all of Parliament, eh. Don'tcha agree, Billy?"

"Je suis certainement d'acorrd," Billy said with a nod.

"Frick, Jace, don't worry about them hosers," Zack said as he and Kimberly skated over. "Let's go hit up Ernie's Maple Shack and get a double-double!"

Jason was about to reply but then the entire ice rink shook and the six young people were teleported away, moments later winding up in the Command Center.

"What the frick bro!" Trini cried out. "We've ended up in totally different pace!"

"Look at this, buddy!" Kim called out, walking over to a giant Lebatt Blue can that had arms and legs. "What da think it is there?"

"Eh,eh,eh,eh!" the can cried out.

"Je pense que ça pourrait être un robot!" Billy cried out, leaning down to look at the big beer can.

"Oh, hey buddy!" Zordon called up, appearing in his tube. "Listen, my name is Zordon and I'm a space prime minister who got trapped in his ice fishin' tube by that evil gorby, Rita! She's returned to conquer all of Canada, eh, and now I need ya ta become Power Monties in order ta stop her."

"Frick bud, we'll help ya out!" Jason said. "Ya have an extra coin for my buddy Zara here?"

"Course I do, Rita tried ta take it but I asked her not to and she said "Okay" and let me keep the green one. Now, go morph and deal with her monster Goldar!"

"Beluga Whale!"

"Goose!"

"Polar Bear!"

"Beaver!"

"Moose!"

"Lake Serpent!"

With a flash of morphing energy and the teleporters the Power Mounties (dressed in color coordinated Mounties jackets and caps on their helmets) appeared before the Goldar, a Sasquatch in golden armor.

"Frick yeah, I was wonderin' when ya hosers would show up!" Goldar yelled, swinging his lumberjack ax and taking out a cable box.

"Hey there buddy, careful with that there ax there, there are people who want to watch reruns of Kids in the Hall!" Zack declared.

"Oh hey there bro, sorry about that!" Goldar apologized. "Ya know how it is, my boss Rita wants me ta cause problems." 

Jason, feeling the need to just go with all this, shrugged. "It's okay there, guy. Let's go stop off at Timmy's instead and get some Timbits."

"Frick ya! I could go for a double double buddy! Let me just get my toque, it's cold out here, eh?"

"Pourquoi tout ce que je dis semble avoir été traduit en utilisant un service de traduction Internet?" Billy asked.

 **Loop 40**

"Uh, Jason, why are we in the 1960s?" Trini asked, utterly confused. She and Zara (who had awoken a full human) were wearing very modest tops and khakis while Jason had on a polo shirt and dark pants and dress shoes. They'd found that they weren't even in Angel Grove but a large city called New Urbem. Jason just kept marveling at the old fashion cars and TVs, chuckling every once and a while at the design choices. "Variant?" 

"Maybe but why would Zara be human?"

"I was human when the two of us swapped lives."

Trini raised an eyebrow at that. "Swapped… Jason was the zord?"

"Oh yeah!" Zara said, pulling out some photos from her subspace pocket. "And you and I were really good friends! Kim, Tommy, and Billy ended up going to the Peace Conference and you, me, Zack, Rocky, Adam, and Aisha were the Rangers. You and I actually lived together after we graduated." Zara smiled fondly. "It was… great."

Trini bit her lip and reached down, taking Zara's hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'm sorry I don't remember… but maybe when I'm Awake in the loops you and I can hang out more?"

"… I'd like that," Zara said softly. She'd missed her friend.

Screams filled the air and the three teens turned to see that an office build had just caught on fire, black smoke billowing from the windows.

"We have to help," Jason said and neither of his friends said a word in disagreement; while they didn't know what this world was they knew they had to help. Looking about and seeing no one paying attention to them they ducked into an alleyway and all three retrieved their morphers. "It's morphin' time!"

"Sabertooth Tiger!"

"Legacy Tyrantrum!"

"Legacy Tyrannosaurus!"

"Okay, Jason you head to the top and begin helping people down!" Trini called out as the three raced towards the building. "Your armor will protect you best against the flames. Zara and I will work on the lower levels!"

Her friends nodded and all three hurried inside, not paying attention to the gasps and cries of those watching… other than to be slightly confused when some of the citizens called them 'Supers' and commenting how wonderful it was to see them again. For Zara she honestly didn't care one lick and instead headed to an elevator, ripping open the doors and seeing that, indeed, there was a car stuck halfway up. Glancing to her right she saw that the second car was on their level and she quickly went to it, climbing inside and then busting through the escape hatch before she began to quickly climb up the shaft, digging her fingers into the concrete walls as she ascended. Getting to the stuck car she carefully leapt over to it, holding onto the wall instead of landing on the car itself, less she cause it to tremble and possibly fall. Pulling open the door she saw the scared officer workers huddled inside and she gave them a cheery wave.

"Okay, so I need you to be very still. I am going to get you out of here but if you rock the car it will make it worse, okay?" the people nodded and Zara scurried up a bit, about another 10 feet, and grabbed onto the cable holding the elevator car up. While she didn't have the power of her biomechanical form the zeo crystal combined with her Power Coin would give her enough strength to handle what she was planning; she'd be sore in the morning but it would be worth it. Straining she wrapped the cable around her left arm once before bracing her legs in the corner of the shaft, lifting the car up with a groan till the cable below was slack. Summoning her Power Staff use slice away the cable above her and then returned the staff to the Morphing Grid and began to slowly shimmy her way down the shaft. The weight was making it feel like her shoulder would be dislocated but she pressed on, knowing she had only a few more stories to go-

"I've got it!" someone called up to her and suddenly the weight was gone. "I've got it and I'm going to bring it down. Just let go of the cable slowly!"

Zara nodded and carefully let to, another person who was half hanging out of another door on the 4th floor working to lower down the car with much less effort than she had put it. He was a large man with thinning hair and a body that showed he'd once been heavy but had been working to lose the weight and leave only the huge muscles. He wore a red outfit with black microshorts and a black mask hiding his identity.

"Thanks! Got it!" He called. "Anyone else with you, uh…"

"Scarlet Ranger!" Zara called down. "My friends, the Yellow Ranger and the Red Ranger, are working to help others and put out the fire!"

"Frozone is getting that, should have it out soon! Come on down!"

Sure enough, by the time Zara and the super strong guy got down to the ground floor Jason and Trini were there, talking with a woman in a matching red outfit to the big guy and a black man wearing a white and blue outfit.

"Thanks for the assist there," the big guy said. "You new around here?"

"Yeah," Trini said. "We just Woke up."

The three heroes shared a look. "Feeling loopy and needing an anchor?"

"Loopy but we've got two," Jason said, gesturing to him and Zara. "Long story."

"I can imagine," the woman said, holding out her hand. "Elastigirl. This is Mr. Incredible and Frozone. No offense but we'll hold off on real names for now. Force of habit."

"Believe me, we get it," Jason said. "Red Ranger. Obviously this is the Yellow Ranger," Trini waved, "and this is the Scarlet Ranger, my kinda Co-Anchor."

"Kind of?" Mr. Incredible asked. "How'd you swing that? I've been bugging our admin to make me an anchor along with Hel… Elastigirl for ages!"

Zara shrugged. "I started off as a robotic t-rex Red here piloted. I had only a tiny bit of sentience in our baseline but he kept pocketing copies of me… and eventually I gained full sentience. Because his powers are linked to mine our Admin decided that was enough of an excuse to make us Co-Anchors. Kind of. Red here woke up first."

"Well, ain't that somethin'," Frozone stated. "So, must be a fused loop, huh. Any of your people here?"

"Not that we've seen but we just got here," Trini said.

"And you jumped in to help people right away?" Elastigirl asked. "I mean, most people who come here become heroes but they have to get powers and learn how to use them. You guys…"

"…already had them," Jason said. "And we're heroes too. Though we mostly fight giant monsters."

"Huh," Mr. Incredible said, leaning against a wall. "I wonder why you guys got fused with us then?"

"I believe I can answer that, dahling!" a voice called out and the Rangers all turned to see a very short, vaguely asian looking woman with a German/Austrian accent walk over to them, her thick glasses and bowl hair cut making her look laughable… but her entire attitude making it clear that if you laughed at her you'd know only pain.

"Edna, what are you doing here?" Mr. Incredible asked.

"I came as soon as I saw the news! New heroes, Robert! New heroes from another branch! Clearly they need my touch!"

"Edna Mode!" Zara said, excited. "The Mystic Mother said she'd give us a loop with you!"

"And so she has delivered! Let us see…" She looked at Zara and clicked her tongue. "Hmmm… very interesting… the spandex seems out of this world but nothing I can not handle, not with the technology and tools I've gathered." She pulled out a digital tape measure from her subspace and used it to check over Zara's dimensions. "Yes… yes… so no need to take it in or adjust the sizing, just need to see about the details. Hmmm, a darker shade of red, I think. Almost adjust the helmet, a bit more feminine. Thicken the gloves but also make the sleeves up to mid arm white. The belt buckle must be changed, I can do better. I love the crest, dahling, I assume it is for a Tyrantrum? I was in the Pokémon World for a loop a while ago and made such lovely dresses for that girl Dawn. Yes… yes I think that will do."

She looked at Jason and shook her head. "Sorry, my boy, but you are perfectly fine. If I did anything it would only ruin things. I would love to design for you but even geniuses must admit when they aren't needed. But you," she turned to Trini. "You need work. It's clear your outfit isn't a custom and we must change it! Yes, we must! You need an original outfit to show that you yourself are original and special! To let the whole world see you shine!"

"We have a Zeo Crystal she's learning to merge with her Power Coin," Jason said. "That's how I got my costume like this."

"Yes, we will need her to master that this loop. I want to work with the best. I am thinking shoulder pads… not too big, but in a nice metallic white. Oh, the helmet… less round, more cat-like. Longer gloves… you are an elegant beauty and you deserve to look like one. A skirt too, to set you apart from the boys. Short though, so not to prevent you from attacking. Hmmm… a scarf I would put on a model but not you. Almost as bad as a cape. But we will make the whole costume more slimming, make you look taller and lither. Oh yes… so much work. I am used to Robert and Helen's costumes, and don't give me those looks, dahlings, they will find out who you are soon enough. But as I said I am used to them wearing rather simple costumes. You I can add more. Come Miss Scarlet, Miss Yellow. Come come!"

 **Loop 41**

All across Angel Grove anyone who was watching 'The Young and the Karate Chopped' would have seen something rather odd on their tvs: a space dumpster slowly opening and a woman with her hair in great horns rising up with a cackle.

"After ten thousand years I'm free! It's time to make delicious burgers!" at that point the woman turned and smiled welcomingly at the camera. "Hi there, I'm Rita, owner of Rita's Burger Palace. Does waiting for your food give you such a headache? I know it does me. But at Burger Palace you don't need to wait."

Rita stepped out of the space dumpster and the camera panned back to reveal that she was standing in a fast food restaurant that looked like her baseline moon palace had conceived a child with a McDonalds. Baboo was working the registers, taking orders as Rita moved past him and towards the kitchen staffed with putties. Each one was wearing a white and red uniform, a jaunty little hat on their head. Moving past them she arrived at where Finster, also in a uniform, was entering commands into his Monster Maker... and pumping out burgers.

"Our Burger Maker will have your order ready, hot and juicy!" Rita said with a grin. "And do you love fries?" She went over to where Goldar was, the giant general manning the fryer. "Well, your fries will be as golden as our cook!" Goldar let out an evil laugh and Rita moved past him, Squat pushing a mop and bucket towards the Dark Dimension Ball Pit and Slide. "And if your order isn't ready when you get to our window we'll bring it out to your car!"

The camera panned over to where a person was waiting in their vehicle. There was a rumble and he looked over to see a large stone roll over... and then crack open to release Scorpina, who was wearing an outfit and holding out a bag.

"So come down to Rita's Burger Palace, where we will conquer your hunger. Oh, and don't forget to ask about our giant size meals!" She held up her staff. "Magic Wand, make my burger grow!" She tossed it and a customer gasped as their burger doubled in size.

For all those that kept watching Channel 5 they saw, after a commercial for Billy's House of Single Color Outfits ('Life is too complicated to wear more than one color!') they would have seen another commercial, this one starting with a man with a blue bald head looking right at the screen and dramatically declaring: "Alpha, Rita's escaped… and is making reheated frozen burgers! Assemble a team of condiments with attitude!"

Pulling back the audience saw Day Shift Manager Alpha standing with his crack staff of burger flippers, each holding a condiment.

"Black Pepper Mayo!"

"Red Onions!"

"Mustard!"

"Blue Cheese Dressing!"

"…ketchup?" a confused Jason said.

 **Loop 42**

"I'm so glad we decided to make this a Girl's Only Loop," Trini said with a grin as Zara and her walked out of the Astro Megaship (pocketed by Trini during their Overdrive loop) and made their way towards Rita and Zedd's palace. The two of them were dressed in black yoga pants, black turtle necks, black shoes, and black face mask caps. Each was caring a duffle bag and were sneaking their way across the lunar surface, fighting off giggles as they hurried along. "I wish Kim was awake though to join us." 

"I'd take Aishia myself. She replaced Kim in my Red Ranger Loop and the three of us became really good friends. She can make a mean margarita! Still, if it has to be just one other girl I'm glad its you."

"Thank you!" Trini said, touched.

They'd left Jason on Earth, Awake but in need of a vacation loop after, in his owns, 'dealing with the drama that came from the Burger Palace poaching our best night shift manager and making him their 'Green Salad Ranger' for their diet-conscious diners'. Zara had merely giggled and refused to tell Trini what had happened (preferring to save that story for blackmailing needs) and the two had decided to let Jason just relax this loop. They'd awoken just after Zedd had returned and it had been decided to skip the whole peace conference and keep the team together, with Rocky, Adam, and Aisha chosen to go. Jason had decided to let Tommy be the leader and him to be second-in-command and honestly it had led the looping anchor to be quite peaceful during the loop, practicing some of the meditation techniques Trini swore by and generally just enjoying life. As a result of his desire for some relaxation Trini and Zara had decided to keep things as baseline as possible (as it was clear they weren't in an odd variant) and not change things and thus add to back onto Jason's stress level.

Thus had been born Girl's Only Loop, where the two of them had hung out heavily, with Zara getting to reconnect with her friend and Trini getting to learn even more about the zord-turned-humaniod who was rapidly becoming the 7th Ranger of their group (and considering she was looping before Trini one could argue one of the Original of the new Legacy Ranger, as Jason was prone to calling them). They had started out doing the things teens did all the time. They went out to eat and gossiped about boys at school. They went shopping for clothing that was far too expensive but that they had to have. They stayed up late talking on the phone, long past when they should have gone to sleep. Trini invited Zara to her house for sleepovers (as Zara was currently living in a house she'd quietly purchased when she'd first awoken) so that the young woman (and in Trini's mind Zara was just as human as her) could experience life with a family again; she didn't talk much about her home life when she had been the Red Ranger and Jason her zord but Trini sensed both a thankfulness for what she had experienced… and a sadness for what she had lost. They of course did the normal sleepover stuff, including giving each other facials and painting their nails… things that honestly both of them were FAR too old to do but, in the moment, made them feel young again.

But as the months had ticked by they had begun to take their time together to new and more extreme places. They'd grabbed Zack's car and went on a joy ride. They'd snuck into R Rated movies and then fled when caught. One week, when Trini's parents were out of town, they'd ditched school and drove to LA and actually managed to get to be extras in a Bruce Willis movie. The two of them had put on just their ranger helmets and streaked during a Pep Assembly, just managing to avoid being caught.

And now the two of them had decided to go for the ultimate bonding experience: TPing Rita and Zedd's palace.

"Got the soap?" Trini whispered.

"Yeah, got the eggs?" Zara asked as the two of them moved across the lunar surface, thankful that in this loop, like their baseline, the moon had a breathable atmosphere (Jason had found out when he'd did his Donkey Kong loop that sometimes the moon, strangely, was a cold barren rock where the gravity was weaker and there was no air; it was WEIRD).

Trini shook her bag. "Yup! This is going to be great. What do you want to do first?" 

"Soap up the windows. Rita and Zedd tend to look out the balcony anyway. Then we hit the toilet paper and finally the eggs." Trini nodded and the two quickly hurried along, finally reaching the great dark palace and clamoring up towards one of the many windows. "Alright, hand me… the…" Zara trailed off as she stared inside, Trini soon joining her in shock.

Trini had gotten a chance to walk around Zedd and Rita's palace after the Overdrive event, when Jason had decided to shrink the mansion and pocket it. He's shown off the Moon Palace to Trini and though cleaned up she had been able to imagine just where everything was, based on the few stories Tommy had told of his time under Rita's control and when Zara had apparently worked for Rita as a general in one loop. The monster making machine. Rita's table filled with dark artifacts, where Zedd's throne would have been. Dark stone and evil enchanted items filling the shadows of the fortress of evil and terror.

What she had NOT been expecting was to look into the palace and see a run down looking suburban home with a ratty couch, stained shag carpet, walls that were in need of new wall paper and a kitchen that looked like the closest it had ever come to being clean was when someone swatted at a bug. It was the type of room that one could have easily seen on Earth… but wouldn't want to as it spoke of desperation and poverty and shattered dreams. A disgusting room not because of the evil ones that lived there but because you honestly didn't want to know what have the stains were from.

Rita was sitting at what Trini and Zara could only assume was the kitchen table, wearing instead of her long dress skin-tight leggings, high heels, and a leopard-print top. She was reading a tabloid magazine and humming to herself, a little smirk on her face as she lazed about and did nothing about the squalor around her.

And then a door opened and Lord Zedd, wearing a wrinkly dress shirt and faded slacks stormed in, holding up his staff.

"If the Earth had a neck!" he growled, strangling his staff before throwing it aside in disgust. "I decided to create a monster to deal with those rangers… a cake monster that would shoot icing at them. And then some fat broad stormed in and ate it all the moment it appeared on the planet! So I teleport down to yell at her and she says that she was merely taking a nibble and she was watching her girlish figure. I told her the last time she had seen a girlish figure was when she tried to eat the little girl she lured into her gingerbread house!" Zedd stomped over to the fridge (because of course there was a fridge) and pulled out a bottle of cheap no-name beer and popped the cap off. "I don't know when they began letting fat broads carry tasters but you'd think she'd have made better use of that shocking herself to shake some of that blubber off her!" Letting out a grumble he walked over to the couch, slumped down onto it, and stuck his hand down his pants.

"Honey, if you want me to compliment you on your performance its not going to happen," Rita stated with a sigh. "You don't listen when I complain about your performance! Sometimes you don't even wake up!"

Zedd shoot her what the two rangers assumed was a dark look. "Unlike sex with you this is important to me."

"Oh, come on… it can't be all that bad. Tell me you missed me." 

"With every death beam so far," Zedd complained as Rita tiptoed over and sat next to him.

"I know what would make you feel better. Why don't I grab YOUR staff and make YOUR monster grow." 

"Rita… I would rather give Zordon's giant head a sponge bath than let you touch a piece of me." Zedd reached over and grabbed the remote. "Now, can't you just let me wait for death in peace?" 

"Ah Zedd," Rita whined, "what's wrong? You're more grumpy than normal. Still stink as much…"

"I had dreams, Rita!" Zedd complained. "Big dreams! I was gonna go places. There I was… Polk High. The only player to score 4 touchdowns in a single game…"

Zara and Trini shared a look as Zedd blathered on.

"…we never speak of this loop again?" Trini whispered.

"Agreed," Zara said, holding out her hand and giving Trini a fist bump.


	11. Chapter 11

Loop 43

King Mondo glared down at the earth in utter frustration. "This defies all calculations! How is it that some mere humans are able to stand against us, the might Machine Empire! Champions and rebels have fallen by the thousands as our forces have marched through their worlds and yet these... teenagers... have managed to defeat us at every turn!"

"It isn't that dark, my liege," Klank proclaimed, bowing at the waist. "I am sure that our next attack will be the one to eliminate them!"

"Or it will merely be another distraction!" Mondo complained.

"You must calm yourself, dear," Queen Machina stated, fanning herself. "It does no good to overheat your circuits. The pesky rangers will be defeated soon enough and even Dark Specter will see that it is us that should rule!"

A dark laugh filled the air and the wicked robots turned about, searching for the source. "Is that what you think?" the voice chuckled from the shadows, her slender frame hidden and masked. "You believe that the forces of evil cower at your name? You haven't been paying attention, if that is what you believe. I have been listening, speaking with warriors and overlords and tyrants from here to the shoulder of Orion and I tell you that I hear the same in all the corners of the galaxy. Laughter. Laughter at the once proud House of Gadgetry... rendered obsolete by Zordon's band of infants."

"Obso... obsolete?" King Mondo exclaimed, motioning for several Cogs to open fire on the intruder. "I will show you obsolete!"

But when the Cogs shot at the intruder she was already gone, moving from shadow to shadow with only a short, taunting laugh to let them know where she moved. Machina ducked for cover and Mondo had to dive away as the intruder moved to stand behind the King and Queen, the Cogs opening fire and nearly striking them. Klank and Orbus weren't so lucky, both getting hit and being sent down with a shower of sparks.

"Do you hear them laughing, Mondo?" the intruder taunted. "Do their cackles fill their ears? I thought perhaps they were wrong to mock you but what I have seen just now has failed to impress me. But still..." suddenly the intruder was before them, tilting her head as she took them in, "...perhaps what you need is the proper generals."

Mondo, trying to regain control of the situation, stood up once more and turned his optics towards the intruding female. "And that would be you?"

"It would," the intruder said. She just on the high end of being short, with long black hair that was streaked with silver strands. She wore an all black outfit that all the younger female conquers were favoring this decade, though hers was studded with machinery and gargets. Where her left eye should have been there was a piece of metal that surrounded a red optic, stretching from her temple to down her neck, the skin around the implant having seemingly grown over it... or the piece had burst from her body. She wore a black glove on her left hand but her right was mechanical, with pistons churning as she flexed her fingers. Sliding out of the sleeve on her right arm was a large needle-like appendage that would make any living creature squirm.

"I am Tungsten Trini of the Steel Brigade," she said, her face utterly impassionate even as her words seemed to hint at emotion.

"Never heard of you before," Machina stated coolly.

"You avoid KO-35," Trini stated. "I was the pink ranger of that planet... until my mind was opened."

"Opened?" Mondo asked.

Trini lifted up her arm and the needle extended. "My veins were filled with the Wall-E Virus and my mind was shown the glories of order and logic. Where others have sought to purge organics of their emotions the Creator, Johnny-5, sought to merge the emotion and cunning of humanity with the logic and dedication of the machine. I, and my partner, are the final result."

"And you would seek to aid us... what, out of the goodness of your heart?" Mondo complained.

"My heart merely pumps what little blood I have left through my organs," Trini stated simply. "I aid you because the power of the Machine Empire would allow me to continue on with my task, to spread the virus to all organisms and convert them into beings like myself. I would aid you with only the request of receiving information on some of your technology. Nothing more."

"Hmmm... perhaps, perhaps," Mondo mumbled to himself.

Machine spoke up. "You speak of a partner?"

"He was converted before me... he is far more machine now than man. Ja-Sun?" Trini turned, motioning for Jason to enter... and nearly broke character as he walked in. The two of them had developed their characters in secret after waking up in the middle of the Peace Conference and deciding that rather than try and get back their powers they would have some fun with the House of Gadgetry. Trini had based her outfit on the Borg.

Jason had based his on a costume a five your old would make for a school play.

"Beep, boop,' Jason said, shuffling in. He wore dryer tubing on his arms and legs and had spray painted some work gloves with silver paint to create his limbs. A large box formed his robot body, covered in tin foil and glitter with Christmas tree lights strung around it, and he wore another, smaller box on his head with a coat hanger on top. "Beep… I am Ja-Sun. Take me to your lea-der."

"Of… of course," Trini said, struggling not to laugh. She couldn't even be mad at this point, as he just looked so ridiculous. "May I present King Mondo."

"Hello, King Mondo," Jason said in a monotone voice. "Beep. Boop."

"Ah, greetings Ja-Sun," Mondo said pleasantly. "I must say, I was concerned about your companion, what with her being rather fleshy, but to see that this Wall-E virus could turn you into a rather powerful looking robot I must say my concerns were unfounded."

"I do agree," Machina purred, coming up and running her hand over Jason's cardboard box chest. "I like what I see."

"So do I," Klank said as he sat up, eying Jason up in a way that had Trini feel rather uncomfortable.

Mondo pounded his staff into the ground. "Yes! I do believe I will make you my new generals… no… that is far too pedantic for the likes of you. You shall be my new Duke and Duchess!"

"Thank you, your highness," Trini said, bowing low.

"I can not bend, beep."

"Quite alright… I get that way in the morning myself," Mondo whispered. "Now then, are you ready to defeat the Rangers?"

"We are!" Trini declared only to wonder how this was going to work out. King Mondo was clearly an idiot but their friends would recognize them… especially Jason!... and realize this was some odd trick…

~An Hour Later~ 

"They're just too powerful!" Kat declared as Trini, with a bored expression, shoved Rocky away.

"Where did Mondo find these guys?" Adam declared, punching at Jason's costume and growling in fury. "It's like hitting a box covered in tin foil! My blows do nothing! I'm getting off balanced!"

"Beep. Boop." Jason swung his arm and managed to hit Adam, sending him flying with a yell.

"We need to do something!" Tanya declared. "Otherwise we are doomed!"

"You are doomed!" Trini declared with a hammy laugh; while the fight was utterly disappointing she couldn't let them know that. She realized she should have seen that coming… thanks to several lifetimes worth of training, including one with almost every ranger at her command, as well as spending so much time bonding with the power of the Yellow Zeo Crystal, she was just so powerful that normal ranger moves did nothing. Honestly, if she were evil she could have taken over the planet in a week at this rate. "The glorious Machine Empire will claim this planet! Resistance is Futile! You will be assimilated!" She stuck out her needle… and sprayed silly string at them.

The rangers cried out and rolled about like she was actually firing acid at them.

"Never!" Tommy shouted. "We'll never bow to you! Kiai!" He leapt in the air only for Jason to just trudge forward and smack him flat out his butt.

"Out of my way, sissy boy!"

"Sissy boy?" Tommy complained.

"Beep. Boop. I've seen your hair. It is either that or you are compensating for something."

"Nailed that one on the head," Kat whispered.

"Come on guys, we have to give it one more chance!" Tommy said, desperate to distract them from what Jason had said. "Let's go! Power Rangers!"

With that the team charged.

~3 Days Later~

"…have overthrown the pathetic King Mondo and declare themselves the new rulers of the Machine Empire!" Klank declared to the gathered public of Angel Grove, all of who were kneeling. "Long live King Ja-Sun and Queen Trini!"

"…how did this even happen?" Zara whispered, standing in her Iron Dragon Queen form, waving to the crowd with a fake smile on her lips.

"Honestly it just escalated quickly," Trini admitted, waving sheepishly to her new subjects.

Meanwhile Kat, wearing a silver one piece body suit, was working to put new tin foil on Jason's box. "Mmmm… I was so wrong to reject the forces of evil and side with good. I'm bad… so bad… and just for you!" She rubbed Jason's tube arm. "Let's assimilate together!"

"Beep, boop?" Jason said, just as confused as Trini in how they'd managed to enslave the world.

 **Loop 44**

With Trini unawake for this loop, it being baseline, and no other guest loopers or anchors coming in, Jason, upon awakening to discover that he'd just given up the Gold Ranger Powers ('so much for getting an extra Zeo Crystal or staff') and realizing that Zara was going to need some time to repair (and she was seriously annoyed whenever she woke up under the Command Center with her wires torn out and her arm missing) had decided that it was time to settle an old score that he'd been waiting to deal with for QUITE a while.

Divatox.

While it had been over a thousand years (give or take, he was losing track of how old he truly was) he still remembered how she had turned him and Kim evil and sicced them on the newly created Turbo Rangers. While he had no problem with pretending to be evil (though it had been odd in the last loop; Ja-Sun had finally had to stage his own defeat when the newly re-evil Kat had begged to carry his robotic child and explained in graphic detail how that would be possible despite him being a robot with no functioning reproductive organs) for a few laughs actually being evil was something he'd never do. Divatrox had robbed him of who he was and nearly turned him into a monster. And then, to truly put the icing on the crap cake that was the Space Pirate and her influence on his life, she had been the one to lead the assault that destroyed the Command Center. The Command Center… the place where he had become a man. His second home. The place where he had had his eyes opened to the wider world and had his destiny forever opened.

'And that shrieking, whining, petulant little… bitch… marched in and destroyed it…'

Oh yes… Jason had been waiting. Waiting to exact his revenge. He wasn't going to kill her… oh no. He was going to make her LONG for death. To make her plead for it. But he wouldn't give her the relief. He would make her suffer. He would torture her in such a way that if it weren't for the loops every evil despot that would ever glance at Earth and consider it a target would turn tail and run. His would be a revenge worthy of the ages.

Divatox, not realizing the doom that was waiting for her, was in the middle of plotting her scheme to release her monstrous fiancée when there was a knock on the door of her ship.

"Whatever was that?" she asked, cocking an ear towards the door only to blink when there was a knock again. "What in the world?" Stomping towards the door she threw it open and Jason was revealed…

…wearing a suit and tie, a pair of glasses on his nose and a briefcase in his hands.

"IRS," he said blandly.

"IRS? Really? Please… you think I fear your human conventions. Maybe I should destroy you now."

Jason merely stared at her. "Is this Mivatox's ship?"

"No, I'm Divatox."

"Ah. Sorry, wrong address."

Divatox shrugged and shut the door. "What a foolish little-"

There was another knock at the door.

Divatox, frustrated beyond belief, ripped the door open and found Jason standing there again, only this time he had on a springy alien antenna headband.

"Space IRS," he said.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Divatrox screamed in horror, clawing at her face.

"Ma'am, there is a ten space dollar penalty for screaming. Please bring it down by 53 decibels."

"Oh, sorry," Divatox said before whispering, "Is this better?" 

"It will do."

"nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" she whisper-screamed as Jason walked over to a control panel and used it as a desk, opening his briefcase and pulling out some papers.

"I'm afraid your Space Tax Forms were improperly filed."

"That was my nephew, Elgar… well, not really my nephew, since I don't have family… that I know of… it's more like a Big Brothers/Big Sisters thing. He has special needs and I let him hang out with me to buck him up."

"Be that as it may we'll need to do a full audit of your expenses."

Jason smirked as Divatox whimpered.

Revenge was sweet.

 **Loop 45**

"Those pesky rangers!" Rita screeched as she watched them destroy yet another one of the monsters she had painstakingly created (aka she had watched Finster actually create it and then, like a good Empress, claimed credit it for it). "Well, they think they are done with Heat Stroke? Think again!" Rita hefted up her staff. "Magic Wand! Make my monster GROW!"

With a throw that would have had MLB scouts rushing to her door had they not feared her destroying them with a bolt of magic lightning, Rita sent her staff (Because it was a staff and not a wand, despite how she tried to brand it) hurtling towards the earth and her monster, the magic within it ready to flow into her monster and make it a titanous creature of pure evil that would utterly destroy the rangers! And yes, she had heard the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, why did you ask and that is a lovely giant rabbit standing behind you! Rita cackled as her wand hurtled towards the ground, ready to turn the tide of the battle once more-

"YOINK!"

"What?" Rita exclaimed, watching as the Red Ranger leapt up and caught her staff before it could hit the ground. "Hey, give that back!"

Jason merely looked up (if he heard her or not was up for debate) and shook his head. "Finder's keepers!" Without even pausing he began to run away, shouting "Woop woop woop!".

"No fair! No fair!" Rita screamed.

"Uh… are we supposed to do something?" Zack asked.

Billy scratched his head…er… helmet. "I can not accurately say."

"Why am I still alive? I took a laser to the face!" the monster whined.

 **Loop 46**

"Our eyes have been opened!" Bulk declared to the gathered people at the rec center. "Skull and I have decided to make our community a better place!"

And rather than announce they were becoming cops… the two of them ripped off their pants to reveal they were wearing sparkly red thongs.

"We have joined the Junior Male Stripper Corps!"

~30 Seconds Later~

"Do you hear screaming?" Zara asked Jason as the two sat in the park, enjoying some hot dogs.

Jason shrugged. "Not sure. Not my problem… I'm staying out of the drama this loop."

 **Loop 47**

"Blub blub blub!" a putty declared, making its way over to Jason where he stood. He'd just left to get some groceries for his mother when the squad had appeared, doing their stupid bobbing dancing movements that were supposed to be threatening but just came off as incredibly stupid. As for why they were attacking them Jason reasoned Rita just wanted to get him in trouble with his mom or make the milk spoil or some other stupid reason. With the petty space witch it honestly didn't matter; she just wanted to cause problems for him because she was bored and Billy hadn't invented 'EvilAliensOnly Dot Com' yet ("You don't have to lonely… at EvilAliensOnly DotCome!").

Jason sighed and fell into a martial arts stance. "Guys, I'm really not in the mood so I don't have time for the standard quips and posturing. So how about I just destroy you real quick and call it a day, okay? Mom is making chicken and rice tonight-"

"Wait!" Zara called out, hurrying over to where Jason and the Putties were posturing, a large floppy hat on her head and a pair of sunglasses perched on her nose. "Sorry, I was shopping when I saw you guys and this is the perfect chance to try out something I've wanted to do!"

"Why were you shopping? What is there left for you to buy after all this time?"

Zara merely patted him on the cheek. "Spoken like a man. Now then," she turned to address the putties that were still watching the two of them. "Hello boys!" Zara said with a grin, thrusting out her arms wide. "So, quick question: what are you going to do tomorrow?"

The putties looked at each other, confused.

"Oh, haven't thought of that, have you?" Zara said, now tapping her chin. "Okay then, let me ask you this: what do you get from completing your mission?" The putties once more looked at each other before they began to flail their arms about. "Yeah, sure, you obey Rita. But why? Because she created you?" The putties all nodded their heads. "And that means she has full right to command you? To dictate every thing you do?" The putties tilted their heads before their gestures grew more violent, though Zara showed no sign of caring. "I'm not saying you can't be evil! Hey, if you want to terrorize the humans, terrorize them."

"Uh, Zara?" Jason said.

"Shhh, the big kids are talking." She turned back to the putties. "My point is this: what does she give you in return for you doing what SHE wants… rather than doing what YOU want? Do you get to change the attack plan if it is foolish?" The putties slowly shook their heads. "What about when you are only mildly injured? Does Finster put you back together?" More head shakes. "Do you get your pick of the loot when the battle is done or are rewarded with a planet once victory is achieved?"

The putties shook their heads harder and while their faces were pretty emotionless it was clear, from their 'blub blub blubs' that they were getting angry. They were, for the first time in their existence, actually thinking about what their lives were like and what they got out of serving Rita. And the answer was 'not that much'.

Zara, at this point, had pulled out a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses and placed them on her nose, her fists clenched as she gestured at the putties who were now listening to her completely. "Putties, look at yourselves! Go ahead, take a look around!" The putties glanced at each other and murmured. "Oh Putties you been had." The putties started at that and began to murmur in agreement. "Hoodwinked!" The murmurs grew louder. "Bamboozled!" The putties growled angrily. "Run amuck!" The blub-blubs were filled with rage. "We didn't land on Angel Grove! Angel Grove landed on us!"

The 'blub blub blubs' were filled with outrage.

~One Day Later~

Rita blinked as she stared out from the balcony of her Moon Palace. But for once it wasn't the Earth that was the focus of her attention, but rather just below the Palace, where every single Putty that Finster had made that were still mobile had formed a picket line. They were marching about the palace, holding up signs that read 'Equal Pay For Equal Destruction', 'Don't Slay The Clay', and 'Putty Are Putties Too!'.

"What do we want?" One putty (who looked like that teen Zara the red ranger occasionally hung out with wearing a Putty Patrol costumed… but no, who would ever wear something like that?) cried out, holding a bullhorn.

"Blub blub blub!"

"When do we want it?"

"Blub!"

"What do we want?"

"Blub blub blub!"

"When do we want it?"

"Blub!"

"Those… those… ingrates! How dare they betray me like this! Finster, make me some new putties… loyal ones… to destroy those treasonous… Finster?"

"What do we want?"

"Better sculpting tools!" Finster declared as he held up his own signed, which read 'I Want New Tools' (Finster was good at sculpting but not at writing up catching slogans).

"When do we want it?" 

"Soonish!"

Rita glowered. "Goldar, go get Scorpina and bust up that strike!"

"I… I would, Mistress, but Scorpina isn't here."

"Where is she?"

Goldar pointed out past the mob, where Scorpina was weakly watching the strike.

"Get in here!" Rita cried out.

"I'm not crossing a picket line!" Scorpina called back.

"Oh grow a spine!" Rita complained. "Get over here!"

Scorpina gulped and took a step forward-

"SCAB!" Finster screamed, the putties turning and pouncing on Scorpina, who screamed as she was swallowed up by the strikers, the last thing Rita saw was her hand slowly being pulled into the mass of writhing gray bodies.

Jason, also dressed as a putty, turned to Zara. "That went dark real quickly."

"Meh, not that dark…"

"Storm the palace!" Finster screamed, now thirsty for blood.

"Getting darker," Jason declared, wondering just which spike would end up housing Rita's head.

 **Loop 48**

Jason and the large group he was a part of walked through the park, each licking at their ice cream. It was a bigger group than he was used to hanging out with but that wasn't a bad thing. In fact, part of him was wondering if there was a way to keep his circle of friends as large as it currently was for quite some time.

There were of course his oldest friends: Billy who could outthink and out invent anyone in the world, Kimberly who hid a massive heart behind a valley girl façade, Zack who was the life of the party because he wanted everyone to be as happy as he was, and an unawake Trini who cared for everyone and kept their feet on the ground. Then there were the two newcomers to the group. First Tommy, the man that had become his brother in all that meant, good and bad. His rival, his sparring partner, his pain in the ass buddy and his loyal ally. He had just returned to them as the White Ranger, finally earning his spot on the team without baggage or darkness. Then there was Zara, his zord and co-anchor, who was snarky and loved pranks but also had a thirst and delight for life. In this loop she was the mysterious Scarlet Ranger once more, aiding the rangers in secret. And finally rounding out the group were the three newest aditions: the greatest second in command a man could have in Rocky, the strong and resilient Adam, and the fierce yet caring Aisha.

It was just after the three from Stone Canyon had been let in on the secret but this time Jason had decided to bring them into the group much sooner than the baseline. He'd already done the same with Zara and her in turn had helped get Tommy closer to them, so that Jason could play off realizing something was wrong with Tommy soon and, in turn, 'find' the Scarlett Ranger and ask her to help save the Green Ranger. With Rocky, Adam, and Aisha he'd merely 'reasoned' that they should be kept close to protect them and besides they were great people.

They'd been hanging out together for a few weeks now and things were going great. The Peace Conference wasn't going to happen (Zara had disappeared one night and in the morning Jason had learned that all the applications had mysteriously been reduced to ashes; Zara liked Trini and Kim and didn't want them going either) so that meant that there was no need to transfer the powers to the three newcomers.

'Of course I still need to make them rangers,' Jason thought as he licked his chocolate ice cream cone (everyone had gone with color coordinated but Jason figured the gold ranger had a mostly black costume so he could swing chocolate). 'Maybe see if Ninjor won't just make coins for them too… and Zara really needs one as well.'

Yes, it was a lovely, wonderful day.

Which was why it really sucked that Jason got shot in the shoulder three seconds later.

"Jace!" Zack shouted as Jason felt to the ground, the impact of the blast knocking him right off his feet. The other Rangers moved to protect Jason and their friends (and to their credit Rocky, Aisha, and Adam all fell into defensive stances, ready to battle in needed) but it mattered not as the mystery assailant threw out a series of series of black fat discs that, upon hitting the unmorphed rangers and their friends, released cables that wrapped around their torsos, trapping their arms against their sides. The only one not hit was Jason and he was in no position to help as he was currently dealing with the fact that a hole the size of a golf ball had been blown out of his left shoulder. Billy and Tommy were the first to struggle forward only for the two to scream out in pain as the discs on their chests flashed and blue energy shot out of it and into their bodies. The rest of Jason's friends also cried out as the energy hit them, the three non-rangers instantly knocked out while the others fought and struggled, clearly in great pain. Jason glanced at Zara and saw that even she was affected, unable to enlarge herself or shift into her zord form in order to break free. That left him alone with their assailant who slowly made his wave from the treeline he'd been hiding behind, casually shooting at the ground to motivate at onlookers to get moving.

The thing approaching him was clearly a monster, that must was clear. Bulkier and taller than most people, its shoulders were wider than its torso was long yet its arms seemed far too short for something of its size and stature. What skin that could be seen was black as obsidian with a few yellow stripes running along his bare arms and exposed sides. The rest of the body was covered in orange and red armor with each major piece designed to look like the head of an animal: a rhino and a bull for the legs, with the heads serving as the kneecaps, a hawk and a panther for the arms with their heads forming the pauldrons, and the chest looking like a lion's roaring mouth. The monster wore an eyeless helm, or at least that's what it appeared to be, and the only thing visible was his wife gaping mouth, which was far too large for his skull. A cape designed to look like wings hung from his back and in his hand he held a long sniper rifle while more of the discs dangled from his belt.

"Far too easy," the monster declared. "And here I thought you would be a challenge for the great Beastiarex!"

Jason grunted, still silently casting wandless healing spells on his shoulder. "What did you do to my friends?"

"Just restraining cables. Use their own strength against them. The stronger they are… the worst it feels." Bestiarex ran a dark purple tongue along his sharp teeth. "But don't worry… I'm not interested in them. It's you I want." The monster reasoned down and grabbed Jason by the head, lifting him up so they could look at each other, eye to non-visible eye. "They still teach about you in schools, you know. Of your exploits and heroism. Jason Scott was considered to be a great man. Leader of the Power Rangers, the first to usher in an age of protection for the Planet Earth that would last centuries after your death." Bestiarex began to squeeze Jason's head. "But that was another life."

Jason fought off a scream and instead choked out. "You'll find I'm full of surprises!" He thrust out his hand, a wandless Bone Breaker on the tip of his tongue, only to find it wasn't needed as Bestiarex bellowed in pain and sparks exploded from his back. The monster dropped Jason and the Red Ranger had his morpher out before he hit the ground. His concern for his secrets was gone and he thrust out the morpher, activating the Red Legacy Ranger powers and armoring him in the Gold Zeo/Red Mighty Morphin' merged costume. Drawing forth his Zeo Power Sword Jason was ready to lash out at the monster only to find himself staring at the newcomer that had saved him.

Another ranger.

She was a pink ranger, that was easy enough to determine, but her uniform wasn't of the Mighty Morphin Era, nor did it look like the Alien Rangers. It might have fit with the Zeo Rangers but even then there were enough differences to make it clear to Jason that this wasn't a time-displaced Kat. The helmet was much more soldier like, with the upper half sticking out further like the visor on a riot gear helmet. The main section where one would look through was pink and looked vaguely like a heart (thus the potential Zeo connecton) but the rest of the suit was solid pink save for silver bracers and the cuffs of her boats and a bit of white on her chest. She had a silver ranger gun drawn but held it like a trained cop, bracing her wrist and never letting it leave her target. From her stance Jason could tell that she was someone who had a ton of training and not just as a ranger.

"Hands in the air, Bestiarex. We do this the easy way and no one gets hurt."

"How is this possible?! You don't exist in this time!"

"It's in the name, Bestiarex: Time Force. It is our duty to protect not only our present but the past as well. We've been tracking you for weeks, watching as you took your little jaunts through time to engage in your hunts. We were gathering evidence because you were just going after species that are extinct in 2996 but when you decided to begin hunting humans that's when we decided to draw the line!" 

"No just any human!" Bestiarex snarled. "With a ranger's head mounted on my wall I will be the most feared hunter in all of the galaxy!"

"Not going to happen," the pink ranger said firmly.

"You're already too late!" Bestiarex cackled. "I wounded him… and now I'll-"

And that's when he turned and received a punch from Jason right in his overly-large mouth.

"What?! How can this be?"

"You keep saying that," Jason said, raising his sword. "I don't think you know what that phrase means."

"No matter! I'll just take the heads of two leaders!" With that he swung out his sniper rifle and began to fire on the rangers, forcing Jason to leap over to the Pink Ranger and cast a shielding spell with his Elder Wand-Merged Sword, blocking the blasts.

"Okay, so I'm assuming you know this guy," Jason said as the monster continued to pound on his shield. "So you take lead. What can I do to help you?"

The pink ranger was, for a moment, clearly startled that Jason was so easily allowing her to take command but quickly pushed that aside. "Okay, so the biggest issue is going to be that patch on his skin." She pointed to a square of odd skin on the monster's left arm. "A lot of mutants got DNA augmentation that allows them to swell in size if that comes in contact with air."

"Why is it everything likes to grow huge?" Jason complained.

The pink ranger shook her head. "It also cuts your lifespan down by half, so it is just really foolish but they honestly don't care. The problem is if that is exposed then it grows and Time Force doesn't have a Megazord to send me. What about you… can you summon your zords?"

"I can but it would be better if we freed Zara."

"Why is that?" the Pink Ranger asked.

"She's a zord herself," Jason said, figuring it couldn't hurt to clue the Pink Time Force Ranger in on that secret. "Long story. But we free her and she can go super size as well." Jason paused, considering something. "Is it all their blood or just that patch that makes them grow?"

"Just the patch." 

"So if it isn't connected?"

The Pink Ranger considered this before quickly nodding. "That would work. Problem is that my Chrono Sabers won't cut through its arm… they are designed to stun and put a monster into chrono stasis… not remove limbs."

"My sword doesn't have that problem," Jason said, holding up the enhanced Power Sword. "I'll distract it while you free Zara. Then we'll swap and I can go in for the finisher. Agreed?"

"Agreed." With that the pink ranger rolled away from the shield while Jason began to cast spells at the mutant hunter, first trying for some Miko powers but when that did little to faze him he switched to firing off a combination of defensive spells and distracting ones in order to keep the monster's focus on him. A Tickling Charm, a Leg Locker, and high powered Lumos… just switched up as quick as he could, thankful he'd kept up his dueling training even after his long absence from Hogwarts. Bestiarex seemed more than happy to focus on Jason and thus the Pink Time Force Ranger got over to Zara and removed to Restraining Disc from her, the Zord-Turned-Human glaring at the monster that had hurt Jason as she pulled out her own morpher.

"It's Morphin Time! Legacy Tyrantrum! Scarlet Ranger!" Swinging her bladed staff she nodded to the Pink Ranger before the two of them began to attack Bestiarex from behind, taunting him and driving him to focus solely on the ladies. Jason, the moment the monster turned from him, activated the Invisibility Cloak that was merged with his armor and disappeared, quietly moving along the battle field before waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

It came when Zara and the Pink Ranger moved in for an attack, only for Bestiarex to slash at Zara. Jason knew his friend though and the way she staggered was a move he'd taught her, a variant on the Drunk Man's Stumble, designed to look like someone had been hit when in reality they were fine. Bestiarex moved in for the kill only to find Zara with solid footing and her staff lashing out, driving into his stomach and cutting of a chunk of his armor.

"A scratch! You do little more than scratch me! I am the living embodiment of the hunt and I will have your head in my trophy roooAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGHHH!" The mutant cried out as Jason came visible and swiped down, taking his arm off while channeling a sword-version of the Flame Whip spell through his blade to cauterize the wound. The Pink Ranger didn't wait a second and leapt into the air, her blades going into a 3 o'clock position as she struck down and took him out, reducing him to the size and look of an action figure.

"If you say 'Time's Up' I will smack you," Zara quipped before the Pink Ranger could say a word.

"She means thanks for the help," Jason said before powering down, figuring that this ranger already knew who he was. Zara did the same and got to work on Trini while the Pink Ranger, after a moment, powered down as well, revealing herself to be a dark haired woman wearing a white uniform with a black shirt underneath. She was younger than he'd expected, around his age, but the way she behaved made her seem older. There was a steel in her, a professionalism that Jason himself saw in his own eyes and worked to keep out of his younger self's voice whenever he gave a command. "Sorry about that… she's a bit… brash."

"And you love me for it!" Zara sang as she freed Trini.

"Jason Scott," he said, ignoring Zara, and offering his hand. "Though I suppose you know that." 

"Yeah," the Pink Ranger said. "Jennifer Scotts. Friends call me Jen." She then noticed his shoulder. "You're hurt!"

"Yeah but I'll live," Jason said even as Jen pushed him to sit down.

"This isn't as bad as it should be. It looks like its already healing!"

"Morphing does that," Jason lied before remembering who he was talking to.

The look Jen gave him made it clear she knew he wasn't telling her the truth. But rather than push the issue she glanced over at the rest of the group. "I know most of your friends but her…" 

"Zara Zoltar," Jason said, using the name he, Trini, and Zara had come up with when Zara was in human form. She had reasoned that, since Zordon had created her, he was basically her father but calling herself Zordon would create issues… but Zoltar would work well, based on that weird variant loop Jason had told her about.

Trini shook her head suddenly. "Wait… what… Jason? Jason!" Trini hurried over, forgetting that she'd been knocked out and focusing on his shoulder as Jen sprayed something she'd pulled out of her pocket on the wound, making him hiss. He glanced at her and Trini nodded. "I'm Awake."

"Good," Jason said.

"Are… are you feeling loopy?"

Jason, Trini, and Zara all slowly turned to Jen who was smiling as she watched them.

"Because I'm Awake and feeling Loopy. No need to worry… I keep myself pretty Anchored."


End file.
